Matt Muratore squeaked by Kari MacRae in Tuesday’s Republican primary for the Plymouth and Barnstable State Senate seat, according to the unofficial voting results.
With most of the votes counted, Muratore, a state representative from Plymouth, leads MacRae, a Bourne School Committee member, by just 50 votes, 6,978 to 6,928. That’s a margin of .4 percent.
It was the closest race in the Republican and Democratic primaries, in which 26.8 percent of registered voters in Plymouth cast ballots.
If the Senate results stand, Muratore will face off against Democratic state representative Dylan Fernandes, of Falmouth, in the November general election. Fernandes ran unopposed in the primary.
The district encompasses Plymouth, Plympton, Pembroke, Kingston, Bourne, Sandwich, Mashpee, and Falmouth.
MacRae told the Independent in a text message that she would ask for a district-wide hand recount once official results are in. She declined to comment further.
Muratore, however, claimed victory.
“While the final handful of votes remain to be counted, we are confident in our lead, and -most importantly – we are grateful to the voters that put their trust in our campaign,” Muratore said in a press release. He congratulated MacRae for a “spirited” campaign.
If official results, as expected, are within a margin of less than half a percent, MacRae would need just 75 signatures districtwide to request a recount, according to Debra O’Malley, spokesperson for Massachusetts Secretary of State Bill Galvin.
MacRae must petition the clerks in each district municipality by Friday to set the recount process in motion. If Galvin determines that the vote was within half a percent, he will order a recount.
Muratore won handily in Plymouth, with 3,355 votes to MacRae’s 2,064, according to unofficial results. He also won in Kingston and Plympton.
MacRae won her hometown of Bourne, as well as Pembroke, Falmouth, Mashpee, and Sandwich.
Muratore said his campaign will focus on the migrant crisis, public safety, transparency in state government, and housing affordability in his general election campaign.
The seat is open because State Senator Susan Moran, a Democrat, did not run for re-election.
In the Republican primary for state Representative for the Plymouth First District, Jesse Brown defeated Dee Wallace Spencer, according to unofficial results.
Brown bested Wallace Spencer with 2,225 votes to her 2,018, a margin of 4.9 percent.
Brown, a Marine veteran and founder of a telecommunications company and a nonprofit that assists veterans, thanked Wallace Spencer for what he called a positive campaign based on the issues.
“The biggest issues are the migrant crisis, the affordability issues,” he said in an interview with the Independent. “People are losing money out of their pocket, and they want to put more money in their pocket.”
He also cited public safety and support for veterans as issues going into the general election.
Wallace Spencer, a principal lecturer at Northeastern University and Plymouth business owner, did not immediately respond to voicemails and text messages requesting comment.
The district includes 13 of Plymouth’s 18 precincts. Muratore left the seat open when he ran for state Senate.
In the Democratic primary for state rep, Michelle Badger convincingly defeated her three rivals.
Badger, chair of the Plymouth School Committee, won with 2,586 votes. Retired Citibank Arthur Desloges finished in second place with 2,090 votes. Frequent candidate Stephen Michael Palmer garnered 939 votes and Plymouth Area Chamber of Commerce chair Scott Hokanson received 541 votes, according to the unofficial results.
Badger credited her more than 100 volunteers for the victory.
“We had people standing out knocking doors with me on the hottest days of the year, in July,” she told the Independent.
If Badger prevails in the general election, she will become the first Democrat to represent the district since 1999, when Republican Vinny deMacedo succeeded Democrat Joseph Gallitano. Muratore took over the seat from deMacedo in 2015.
Badger said affordable housing is the main issue in Plymouth.
“Every door I’ve knocked on, whether independent or a Democrat, has been about affordability and housing,” she said, adding that voters are also concerned about funding for seniors, public schools, and environmental protection.
In Plymouth’s other House district, the Plymouth 12th, incumbent Democrat Kathleen LaNatra and Republican challenger Eric Meschino, who each ran unopposed, will face off in November. The district includes downtown, North Plymouth, parts of West Plymouth, and Kingston, Pembroke, Plympton, Middleborough, and Halifax.
Fred Thys can be reached at fred@plymouthindependent.org