By Erin Tiernan — Erin@concordbridge.org
The second time was the charm for Concordian Mara Dolan, who pulled out a victory in Tuesday’s Democratic primary for the District 3 Governor’s Council seat, according to unofficial Associated Press results.
Dolan, a public defender, toppled 25-year incumbent Marilyn Petitto Devaney of Watertown, approximately 52.2 percent to 47.8 percent with 99 percent of votes counted, in the unofficial AP tally.
In uncertified Concord primary results, Dolan handily defeated Devaney 2,280 to 595.
With no Republican candidate, a primary win would hand Dolan the seat.
Race results are unofficial until the state certifies them. Local election officials have four days to submit official primary results to the Secretary of the Commonwealth.
Coming out on top
Dolan was declared the likely winner overnight as the votes were still coming in.
“I did have a sense all along that we were going to win,” Dolan told The Concord Bridge Wednesday morning.
Much earlier that morning, Dolan declared victory on the social media platform X, where she shared her excitement and thanked supporters.
“We did it!!!” she wrote at 3:10 a.m., citing the unofficial AP count.
“Thanks to everyone who worked so hard on this campaign. I am incredibly proud to be your Democratic nominee.”
In an interview with a Bridge reporter, Dolan said she “did not anticipate” the level of support and attention she garnered in the hard-fought campaign, which saw mudslinging from both candidates.
“I feel incredibly proud of the people of this district for coming together to elect a governor’s councilor who will help us have a more enlightened judiciary,” Dolan said.
Dolan said she visited the polls in Concord on Tuesday to cast her own ballot and spent much of Primary Day courting voters in Newton, Allston and elsewhere in the district.
Tuesday evening, she headed to The Mighty Squirrel in Waltham to watch the results with her supporters.
A new perspective
The Governor’s Council checks the governor’s power to appoint judges, grant pardons and commutations, appoint clerk-magistrates, public administrators, members of the Parole Board, and more. Once she’s sworn into office in January, Dolan will be the first public defender to serve on the 8-member body.
Photo: Laurie O’Neill/The Concord Bridge
She has plugged what she calls the Council’s need for perspective from lawyers like her who represent some of the Bay State’s most disenfranchised defendants.
On the campaign trail, Dolan said she would address racial disparities in state court verdicts, which she said are worse than national averages.
She also said she would focus on what she termed “harmful” convictions for substance users dealing with relapse and what she called “a clear disconnect” around treatment of people with disabilities in the criminal justice system.
Hard-fought campaign
Heading into Tuesday’s vote, Watertown’s Devaney had told The Bridge she was “confident” she could retain the Council seat she’s held since 1999.
Calls to Devaney went straight to voicemail Wednesday morning.
Reached a day earlier, Devaney — who said she was stuck at home, sick — lamented the tumultuous, sharp-elbowed rematch with Dolan.
“I think this is the hardest race I’ve been through,” Devaney said, referencing both anticipated low voter turnout and the overall sharp tone of the campaign, which mirrored the contest constituents saw two years earlier.
Despite expressing optimism for a win, Devaney told The Bridge she worried Dolan’s campaign had “confused” voters. “She said that abortion was on the ballot. We, the Governor’s Council, don’t vote on abortion, but she got support from that,” Devaney said.
During the primary — as she had in the 2022 race — Dolan criticized Devaney’s vote to confirm Superior Court Justice Claudine Cloutier.
In her July 2022 confirmation hearing, Cloutier, who was nominated by then-Gov. Charlie Baker, declined to state her position on access to abortion. Devaney told The Bridge she believed Cloutier would not let her personal views affect her judgment on the bench.
District 3 includes precincts in 31 cities and towns, including all of Concord, and stretches from Chelmsford to Boston’s Fenway and Allston/Brighton neighborhoods.
This story has been updated. Full uncertified Concord Primary Day results below:
20240903_Unofficial-Election-Results
