On the North Shore, a moderate Republican bests ‘Super Happy Fun America’ leader in write-in contest
“It’s a very unusual circumstance where you have the incumbent on the ballot and he garnered the most votes even though he is set to file paperwork to decline.”
A moderate Republican overpowered a right-wing agitator in an unusual North Shore legislative contest Tuesday that observers saw as a possible indicator of the state GOP’s appetite for far-right politics. C.J. Fitzwater secured the Republican nomination for the First Essex District House seat after his write-in campaign trounced that of Samson Racioppi, an activist who organized the 2019 “Straight Pride Parade” in Boston. Racioppi also helped organize buses to Washington, D.C., for the protest that became the Jan. 6 insurrection.
Fitzwater secured 424 votes across the district, which includes Salisbury, Newburyport, Merrimac, and parts of Amesbury. Racioppi garnered 112 votes, according to unofficial tallies provided by the Salisbury town clerk Wednesday. James Kelcourse, who had represented the district since 2015, left his seat in June for a position on the Parole Board. His name remained the only one printed on Tuesday’s ballot, earning 1,563 votes, but Kelcourse told the Globe last month that he would withdraw if he won.
That left the nomination up to state Republican Party leaders, who on Wednesday voted unanimously to give the nod to Fitzwater, according to Representative Bradley Jones, a North Reading Republican and the House minority leader.
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