MA 2020 Congressional Primary Results: 4th District Close

MILFORD, MA — There were four Democratic primary races for the U.S. House in Massachusetts on Tuesday, and there were clear winners in all but the race to replace Rep. Joe Kennedy.

The two leaders in the 4th Congressional District race — Newton City Councilor Jake Auchincloss and former Deval Patrick aide Jesse Mermell — were only about 105 votes apart after the last ballot drop around 1:30 a.m. Wednesday. That was with 80 percent of precincts reporting across a district that stretches from Brookline to Milford to Fall River.

Just after midnight, the Mermell campaign said in a statement that potentially thousands of mail-in ballots had yet to be counted.

"It’s too soon for anyone to declare victory or stop counting," the statement said. "This is the first time Massachusetts has voted by mail, and we believe there are thousands of votes still not counted."

Here's the latest on the Massachusetts congressional primaries:

• With an insurmountable lead, North Shore U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton was the winner over challengers Angus McQuilken and Jamie Belsito, according to The Associated Press.
• South Shore U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch was declared the victor in the 8th Congressional District race.
• U.S. Rep. Richard Neal won in the 1st Congressional District race, according to The Associated Press.
• Attleboro resident Julie Hall was declared the winner in the Republican 4th Congressional District primary.

The 2020 congressional primary in Massachusetts was almost entirely a Democratic affair — from the crowded race to replace Kennedy to the brawl in western Massachusetts between incumbent Neal and Holyoke Mayor Alex Morse.

On the North Shore, two challengers — Massachusetts Coalition to Prevent Gun Violence co-founder McQuilken and Salem State University trustee Belsito — sought to block Moulton from a fourth term. On the South Shore, Lynch faced a primary challenge for the second consecutive cycle from physician Robbie Goldstein.

The Neal-Morse race was marked by one of the oddest political moments of the year. A group of UMass Amherst College Democrats tried to cancel Morse by accusing him of inappropriate conduct with students. But leaked documents revealed that a UMass student concocted the political hit in the hopes he would land a job with Neal. Morse was running as a progressive alternative to Neal, who has been criticized his ties to the pharmaceutical industry.

Even after Tuesday's loss, Morse and his supporters declared a partial victory. Justice Democrats, a group founded by former Bernie Sanders campaign staffers, said Morse was Neal's strongest challenger yet, setting him up for future races.

"Alex Morse emerges as an inspiration for his community who overcame a culture of fear instilled by the incumbent and desperate, manufactured attacks," Executive Director Alexandra Rojas said in a news release.

More 2020 Massachusetts primary coverage:

• 2020 U.S. Senate Race: Ed Markey Beats Joe Kennedy
• MA Primary Election Results: Polls Close, Some Problems Reported

The literal biggest Democratic race was in the 4th Congressional District, where nine Democrats sought to fill Kennedy's shoes (although two dropped out before Sept. 1). Auchincloss and Mermell were neck-and-neck in a pre-election poll.

The 4th Congressional District was also the site of the sole Republican primary, where Julia Hall and David Rose were competing to take on the winner of the Democratic primary. Rose made a run for Kennedy's seat in 2016, and Hall most recently tried to unseat state Rep. James Hawkins (D-Attleboro) in the 2018 general election.

Here are the early congressional primary results as of 1:30 a.m. Wednesday (i = incumbent):

1st Congressional District

• Richard Neal (i) — 59.02%
• Alex Morse — 40.98%

4th Congressional District

Democratic primary

• Jesse Mermell — 23.37%
• Jake Auchincloss — 22.29%
• Becky Grossman — 17.5%
• Alan Khazei — 8.94%
• Ihssane Leckey — 11.05%
• Natalia Linos — 11.68%
• Ben Sigel — 1.6%

Republican primary

• Julie Hall — 63.14%
• David Rosa — 36.86%

6th Congressional District

• Seth Moulton (i) — 77.37%
• Angus McQuilken — 10.11%
• Jamie Belsito — 12.52%

8th Congressional District

• Stephen Lynch (i) — 66%
• Robbie Goldstein — 34%