History Is On Trahan's Side In Race Against Green, Mullen

ANDOVER, MA -- It's not an understatement to say Rick Green has his work cut out as he tried to become the first Republican to hold the Massachusetts 3rd Congressional District seat in the U.S. House of Representatives since Peter I. Blute lost reelection for a third term in 1996. Of the eight people who have held the seat since 1933, Blute was the only Republican.

Also playing against Green is anti-Trump rhetoric in the district, which includes the dense immigrant population centers of Lawrence and Lowell. The district covers portions of three counties, stretching from Winchendon in the West to Haverhill in the east, and extending as far south as Hudson (see the bottom of this story for a complete list of cities and towns in the district).

On the Democratic side, the race was wide open after Nikki Tsongas announced she would not seek reelection after five terms in Congress. Lori Trahan won the Sept. 4 primary over Dan Koh of Andover and eight other candidates. The race featured a recount of the more than 89,000 votes cast where Trahan was declared the winner by a 0.1%.

While Green has focused on infrastructure in his campaign -- one of his ads features him swimming across the Merrimack River while his brother is stuck in traffic on a bridge spanning the river -- Trahan, of Westford, told Patch in written responses to questions that she wanted to focus on working families. She supports paid family leave, a $15 minimum wag and universal healthcare.

"The reality for too many working families is that the escalating cost of living is dramatically outpacing earnings," she said. "We need more good paying jobs with benefits and that requires high quality public education, affordable college and practical training that prepares people for the jobs of today and tomorrow."

A third candidate in the race, independent Mike Mullen of Maynard, also listed healthcare as a top priority. "I'm in favor of a Medicare for all system where having a single payer would reduce complexity, improve negotiating power and ultimately help coordination of care," he told Patch (Green has yet to respond to the questions submitted by Patch).

If history in the district is against Green, it's really against Mullen: you have to go back to 1863 to find someone who wasn't a member of the two major parties holding the seat, when Benjamin Thomas of the Union party filled the post for one term.

The full list of towns in the district, which was realigned with the 2012 election follows:

Essex County: Precincts 2 through 7 and Precinct 9 in Andover, Haverhill, Lawrence, and Methuen.

Middlesex County: Acton, Ashby, Ayer, Boxborough, Carlisle, Chelmsford, Concord, Dracut, Dunstable, Groton, Hudson, Littleton, Lowell, Marlborough, Maynard, Pepperell, Shirley, Stow, Townsend, Tyngsborough, Westford, and Precinct 1 in Sudbury.

Worcester County: Ashburnham, Berlin, Bolton, Clinton, Fitchburg, Gardner, Harvard, Lancaster, Lunenburg, Westminster, and Precincts 1A, 2 and 3 in Winchendon.

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Patch file photo via Shutterstock.

Dave Copeland can be reached at dave.copeland@patch.com or by calling 617-433-7851. Follow him on Twitter (@CopeWrites) and Facebook (/copewrites).