Jeffrey Turco claims victory in 19th Suffolk primary to replace DeLeo

Jeffrey Turco is claiming victory in the four-way Democratic primary for the 19th Suffolk District state representative seat, thanking voters who elevated a “middle of the road Democrat” in a blow to progressives who had hoped to fill the seat vacated by moderate House Speaker Robert DeLeo with a progressive.

Turco, a lawyer who served on Winthrop’s Town Council and School Committee, notched 36.2% of the vote, according to unofficial results from the district that includes Winthrop of part of Revere.

Juan Pablo Jaramillo of Revere was next with 30% of the vote, Alicia DelVento of Winthrop followed with 26% and Valentino Capobianco of Winthrop received 7.7%, according to unofficial tallies posted by the Revere Election Commission.

“I’m thrilled to show that a moderate Democrat, a Joe Biden-type of Democrat, can win in today’s Democratic Party,” Turco told the Herald Tuesday night. “Now we start to build to make sure the seat stays a Democratic seat.”

Turco will go on to face Republican Paul Caruccio and unenrolled candidate Richard Fucillo Jr. in the March 30 special election.

Turco, who voted for former President Donald Trump in 2016 and then President Biden in 2020, quickly established himself as the moderate in the Democratic field and won the support of law enforcement groups.

He led the field in fundraising even as his ideologically diverse competitors railed against him for his less-than-progressive stances on sanctuary cities and abortion.

The 19th Suffolk “is a moderate, middle-of-the-road district made up of working class people … who simply want to provide for their families,” Turco said. “We’re not Somerville and we’re not Cambridge and it’s OK in today’s Democratic Party to have moderates.”

The race was rocked just last week when allegations of inappropriate behavior were leveled against Capobianco. Big-name supporters, including state Attorney General Maura Healey and former U.S. Rep. Joseph Kennedy III yanked their endorsements after GBH surfaced allegations of misconduct dating back to when Capobianco was in high school.

Capobianco denied the allegations, calling them “completely untrue” in a statement.

Still, the allegations appeared to weigh on some voters’ minds on Tuesday. Revere resident Meredith Green said she’d been leaning towards Capobianco but after reading up on the candidates decided she would cast her ballot for Jaramillo, the “Revere guy” in the race.

But Jane Carideo of Winthrop, who said she was drawn to Capobianco for his “moral principles,” dismissed the accusations surfaced less than a week before primary day as a “dirty trick” possibly from a rival campaign.

“He’s just a good kid,” she said. “Whenever he’s been on any of the boards or stuff, he’s represented us well.”

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/3uNHvCC