Tuesday’s inclement weather delayed ballot counting in Gloucester and unofficial polling results for the 5th Essex District special state primary were unavailable at 9 p.m. when the Times went to press.
The only candidate known to be moving on to the special general election for the 5th Essex District seat held by the late Ann-Margaret Ferrante is unaffiliated write-in candidate Gilbert Frieden. Because primaries are for nominating candidates from each political party, unaffiliated candidates skip primaries and head straight to the general election.
Essex voters came out for Democratic candidate Andrew “Dru” Tarr, who garnered 98 votes, and Republican Christina Delisio who earned 54 votes. Republican Ashley Sullivan received 15 votes.
Forty-four write-in votes were cast, 42 on Democratic ballots and two on the Republican side.
Rockport resident and Democrat Sarah Wilkerson mounted a write-in campaign for the seat, sending out stickers to local Democratic voters. It was unclear how many of the Essex write-in votes were for her.
“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.
{p dir=”ltr”}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 narrowly beat out Sullivan, 22-18.
In Ward 5, Precinct 2, Tarr received 134 votes while 16 write-ins were cast. Delisio narrowly beat out Ashley 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.
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.
Tarr was at City Hall on Tuesday night with his wife, awaiting the final count. He served as Ferrante’s research and district director and was a member of her staff for nine years.
Before that, he 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 waited for results from the Gloucester polling sites to roll.
Delisio, a Manchester resident, 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.
Wilkinson’s priorities include growing the local economy, strengthening schools, and focusing on “preservation and progress,” according to her campaign. According to the State House News Service, she said that if she does 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, has run 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.
Staff Writer Bobby Grady may be contacted at 978-675-2714 or bgrady@gloucestertimes.com.