Tuesday’s inclement weather dampened voter turnout and delayed ballot counting in Gloucester in Tuesday’s 5th Essex District special state primary.
According to the unofficial results, moving on to the special general election on March 31 will be Democratic candidate Andrew “Dru” Tarr of Gloucester and Republican Christina Delisio of Manchester-by-the-Sea. They will face unaffiliated write-in candidate Gilbert Frieden of Essex who, because primaries are for nominating candidates from each political party, skipped the primaries and heads straight to the general election.
Voters in all of Cape Ann’s communities came out for Tarr, who served as the late state Rep. Ann-Margaet Ferrante’s research and district director and was a member of her staff for nine years. Ferrante died Thanksgiving Day at age 53 after battling pancreatic cancer.
Delisio garned more votes in Gloucester, Essex and her town of Manchester-by-the-Sea. Her primary challenger, Gloucester Republican Ashley Sullivan, won Rockport.
Rockport resident and Democrat Sarah Wilkerson mounted a write-in campaign for the seat, sending out stickers to local Democratic voters, but it was not enough to beat Tarr.
Before working for Ferrante, Tarre served as a campaign manager for Ed O’Reilly’s bid for Essex County sheriff and as the membership and outreach director for the Young Democrats of Massachusetts, according to his LinkedIn page.
“Liking the early results and I think it shows that Cape Ann values the experience that I’m bringing to the job,” Tarr said as he and his wife waited Tuesday night for results from the Gloucester polling sites to roll in to City Hall.
Delisio named accountability and local control as focuses for her campaign. She called out the state’s high electricity rates “due to policies from Beacon Hill that benefit special interests and not the taxpayer.”
A UMass Lowell graduate, Delisio started an environmental consulting career before attending law school in Boston. After relocating multiple times out of state, she returned to Massachusetts in 2014. She has worked with the Manchester Essex Booster Club and served on the Manchester Planning Board.
In Essex, Tarr garnered 98 votes, and Delisio earned 54 votes. Sullivan received 15 votes.
Forty-four write-in votes were cast, 42 on Democratic ballots and two on the Republican side. It was unclear how many of the Essex write-in votes were for Wilkinson.
“I do think that the weather may have kept people away —it got slippery quickly on the roads in Essex. It was a slow day, but everyone who came to vote was in good spirits, and everything went smoothly,” Town Clerk Amy S. Akell said.
Manchester-by-the-Sea voters likewise chose Tarr and Delisio, with 192 and 149 votes respectively. Sullivan garnered 25 votes.
Write-in votes of 69 on the Democratic side and one on the Republican side were tallied.
Poll results started coming in at 8:45 p.m. in Gloucester. Tarr earned 1,241 votes while 262 write-in votes were cast. Delisio overcame Sullivan 257-195.
Tarr received 107 votes compared to 22 write-ins in Ward 1, Precinct 2, and Delision received 28 votes compared to Sullivan’s 17.
In Ward 3, Precinct 2, Tarr received 91 votes while 13 write-in votes were cast. Delisio beat out Sullivan, 22-18.
In Ward 5, Precinct 2, Tarr received 134 votes while 16 write-ins were cast. Delisio beat out Sullivan again by a vote of 42-36.
Ward 1, Precinct 1, continued the trend with Tarr receiving 175 votes compared to 36 write-ins. Delisio edged out Sullivan, this time 24-18.
Ward 3, Precinct 1, saw low turnout but Tarr received 66 votes while 10 write-ins were cast and Delisio received 22 votes compared to Sullivan’s 11.
In Ward 2, Precinct 1, Tarr received 88 votes while 13 write-ins were cast. Sullivan received 25 votes compared to Delisio’s 8.
Tarr received 76 votes while 15 write-ins were cast in Ward 2, Precinct 2. Delisio received 20 votes compared to Sulivan’s 5.
In Ward 5, Precinct 1, Tarr received 178 votes while 27 write-ins were cast. Delisio edged out Sullivan 38-29 and three write-ins were cast on the Republican side.
Ward 3, Precinct 1, saw low turnout but the trend continued. Tarr received 66 votes while 10 write-ins were cast and Delisio received 22 votes compared to Sullivan’s 11.
In Ward 4, Precinct 1, Tarr topped the Democratic ticket with 133 votes to 25 write-ins, while Delisio garnered 28 votes to Sullivan’s 18. In the ward’s Precinct 2, it was Tarr with 195 votes to 85 write-ins, and Delisio with 25 to Sullivan’s 18 votes.
Gloucester City Clerk Grace E. Poirier said that as the weather worsened Tuesday evening, it delayed poll workers’ ability to get the results from the poll sites to City Hall.
She said throughout the day Tuesday, poll workers were reporting to her that turnout was “quite low” and the evening’s bad weather likely further impacted turnout.
“Considering a lot of the precincts are on hilly, windy roads there’s a good likelihood people would have not taken the risk,” she said.
Historically, Poirier said, there is usually a rush of voters coming to the polls as they head into and come home from work.
In Rockport, which announced the unofficial election results shortly before 10 p.m., Tarr and Sullivan took all three precincts.
On the Republican side it was Sullivan over Delisio 28-23 in Precinct 1, 44-38 in Precinct 2, and 49-47 in Precinct 3. There was four blank ballots and 18 write-in votes.
On the Democratic side it was Tarr over Wilkinson 192-135 in Precinct 1, 205-181 in Precinct 2, and 262-209 in Precinct 3. There was one blank ballot and 20 write-in votes.
According to the State House News Service, Wilkinson said that if she did not win by write-in this month, she plans to run again in the September primary election that’s part of the regular fall elections.
Sullivan, a Gloucester resident, ran her campaign on supporting a legislative audit, lowering taxes, downsizing government and increasing support for fisheries. She served as chairperson of the Gloucester Republican City Committee for four years, and with her husband runs ShoreTech, a small business focused on marine electronics, navigation and security solutions for personal and commercial fishing vessels.
Essex resident Frieden spent many years working in finance for Deutsche Bank and City National Bank and was formerly the vice president of the Essex Council on Aging. He now works as a certified fitness instructor with several North Shore councils on aging and has previously delivered Meals on Wheels before and during the pandemic. He has also helped older adults organize their finances and pay bills at SeniorCare Inc. in Gloucester.
Staff Writer Stephen Hagan contributed to this report.