Efforts to open the Boston University biolab suffered another setback Tuesday night after underdog challenger Sonia Chang-Diaz, a lab opponent, squeezed by incumbent Sen. Diane Wilkerson for the Second Suffolk District elections.
Chang-Diaz, a former Jamaica Plain schoolteacher, upset Wilkerson in what became a rematch of their close 2006 primary election. Wilkerson, the only black member of the state senate, has represented the district, which stretches from the elite Back Bay to the working-class Roxbury, since 1992.
Chang-Diaz ran as a write-in candidate in their last race after not receiving enough signatures to secure a spot on the ballot. Wilkerson, who had the support of Gov. Deval Patrick and Boston Mayor Thomas Menino, had to pay a $10,000 fine in August related to past campaign finance violations.
Chang-Diaz does not support the National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratory at BU’s Medical Campus because of safety concerns over a possible outbreak, while Wilkerson supported the lab, citing job opportunities.
The controversial biolab, which still faces two challenges in court, requested to begin training lab workers in August.
In the highest-profile race of the day, U.S. Sen. John Kerry defeated his first primary challenger, Ed O’Reilly, with 69 percent of the vote.
O’Reilly criticized Kerry’s vote to authorize the war in Iraq during his campaign and claimed Kerry cast the 2003 vote to further his political career.
Kerry defended his vote and said he met with military personnel before casting it, but also said he now realizes he was misled.
Kerry, the 2004 Democratic presidential nominee, now faces Republican challenger Jeff Beatty, former member of the FBI and CIA, in the Nov. 4 general election. In a televised address to thank supporters after the victory, Kerry turned his attention to the national scene, also expressing happiness that his former opponent, President George W. Bush, would be out of office in 128 days.
Incumbent U.S. Rep. John Olver of Massachusetts’ First District fended off challenger Robert Feuer, a Stockbridge attorney. Olver has represented the rural western Massachusetts district since 1991.
In the general election, Olver will face Republican Nathan Bech, an Iraq War veteran.
Election officials had a challenging task on their hands with the race for Middlesex County Register of Probate. Incumbent John R. Buonomo is the sole candidate on the ballot, however, he resigned this month when he was arrested for stealing thousands of dollars from government copy machines.
Buonomo’s newfound ineligibility leaves the seat open to eight write-in candidates.
Should Buonomo receive the most votes, Middlesex Democrats will choose a nominee at a Sept. 24 meeting after choosing delegates from across the county in the next several days.
Democrats in Watertown also have a write-in race on their hands. No nominee was chosen to run for the state House of Representative seat previously held by Rachel Kaprielian, the newly chosen head of the Registry of Motor Vehicles. Three candidates are running for the vacant seat using write-ins and sticker campaigns.