2007 Massachusetts's 5th congressional district special election

Template:Short description Template:Use mdy dates Template:ElectionsMA Massachusetts held a special election to fill a vacancy in Massachusetts's 5th congressional district on October 16, 2007. Democrat Niki Tsongas won election to Congress, defeating Republican Jim Ogonowski in an election that was closer than expected.

Marty Meehan had been the district's Representative to Congress since 1993. He announced his resignation in May 2007 (effective July 1), allowing him to become the next Chancellor of the University of Massachusetts Lowell. Meehan had last won re-election in 2006, when he ran unopposed. The district was considered to be strongly Democratic, as it voted 58% for the Democratic candidate (John Kerry) in the most recent presidential election. In addition, Massachusetts had not elected a Republican to Congress since Peter Blute and Peter Torkildsen were last elected to office in 1994 (both were defeated in 1996). No Republican had held the 5th congressional district's seat since Paul W. Cronin departed from office in 1975 after his defeat by Democrat Paul Tsongas in 1974.

A primary election was held on September 4, 2007, to determine each political party's nominee for the general election. Niki Tsongas won the Democratic nomination and Jim Ogonowski won the Republican nomination. Tsongas won the general election, held on October 16, 2007, with 51% of the vote; Ogonowski received 45%.

Candidates

All candidates for the election are listed alphabetically first by party, then by name. Bold is primary winners and general election candidates.

Constitution

• Kevin Thompson – State Constitution Party Secretary from Brockton

Democratic

• Eileen Donoghue – City Councilor and former Lowell Mayor
• Jamie Eldridge – State Representative from Acton
• Barry Finegold – State Representative from Andover
• Jim Miceli – State Representative from Wilmington
• Niki Tsongas – Dean at Middlesex Community College from Lowell, and widow of Paul Tsongas

Independent

• Kurt Hayes – Businessman from Boxborough
• Patrick O. Murphy – Brick and stonemason from Lowell

Republican

• Jim Ogonowski – Former Air Force Lt. Colonel from Dracut, and brother of John
• Thomas Tierney – Self-Employed Independent Consulting Actuary from Framingham

Withdrawn / not running

Democratic

• James DiPaola – Middlesex County Sheriff
• David O'Brien – Democratic National Committee member from Concord

Republican

• Fred Smerlas – Former NFL defensive lineman
• Michael J. Sullivan – Mayor of Lawrence

Polling

Democratic primary

Source	Date	Donoghue (D)	Eldridge (D)	Finegold (D)	Miceli (D)	Tsongas (D)
Survey USA	Aug 27–29, 2007	29%	15%	9%	3%	40%
Survey USA	Aug 11–13, 2007	16%	13%	14%	4%	38%
Kiley & Company	Aug 8–9, 2007	18%	16%	13%	4%	34%
JEF Associates	Aug 6–7, 2007	22%	7%	8%	4%	28%
Kiley & Company	July 15, 2007	13%	12%	10%	4%	36%
JEF Associates	Jun 28–30, 2007	17%	10%	13%	4%	26%
Kiley & Company	May 22, 2007	9%	10%	11%	3%	38%
Garin-Hart-Yang Research	May 3–4, 2007	13%	5%	10%	4%	36%	DiPaola (D)	O'Brien (D)
Kiley & Company	Mar 23–24, 2007	9%	9%	8%	3%	35%	6%	3%

Republican primary

Source	Date	Ogonowski (R)	Tierney (R)
Survey USA	Aug 27–29, 2007	72%	12%

General Election

Source	Date	Ogonowski (R)	Tsongas (D)	Thompson (C)	Hayes (I)	Murphy (I)
Survey USA	Oct 8–10, 2007	42%	51%	0%	2%	4%
RCCC Poll	Oct 1–5, 2007	39%	44%	N/A	N/A	N/A
Survey USA	Sep 7–9, 2007	41%	51%	2%	2%	1%

Results

Bold indicates winner of nomination. Source: https://web.archive.org/web/20120207164837/http://www.thebostonchannel.com/politics/14003157/detail.html

General Election

Template:Election box winning candidate with party link

Massachusetts's 5th congressional district special election, 2007

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		Jim Ogonowski	47,770	45.10
		Patrick O. Murphy	2,170	2.05
		Kurt Hayes	1,125	1.06
		Kevin Thompson	494	0.47
Majority			6,593	6%
Turnout			105,922
	hold		Swing	46.89% D to R

Democratic primary

Candidates		Democratic Primary Election, Sep 4
Candidate	Party	Votes	Percent
style="color:black;background-color:Template:Democratic Party (US)/meta/shading" | Niki Tsongas	style="color:black;background-color:Template:Democratic Party (US)/meta/shading" | Democratic	19,811	35.69%
style="color:black;background-color:Template:Democratic Party (US)/meta/shading" | Eileen Donoghue	style="color:black;background-color:Template:Democratic Party (US)/meta/shading" | Democratic	17,373	31.29%
style="color:black;background-color:Template:Democratic Party (US)/meta/shading" | Jamie Eldridge	style="color:black;background-color:Template:Democratic Party (US)/meta/shading" | Democratic	8,041	14.48%
style="color:black;background-color:Template:Democratic Party (US)/meta/shading" | Barry Finegold	style="color:black;background-color:Template:Democratic Party (US)/meta/shading" | Democratic	6,996	12.60%
style="color:black;background-color:Template:Democratic Party (US)/meta/shading" | Jim Miceli	style="color:black;background-color:Template:Democratic Party (US)/meta/shading" | Democratic	3,296	5.94%

Republican primary

Candidates		Republican Primary Election, Sep 4
Candidate	Party	Votes	Percent
style="background-color:Template:Republican Party (US)/meta/shading" | Jim Ogonowski	style="background-color:Template:Republican Party (US)/meta/shading" | Republican	12,014	89.04%
style="background-color:Template:Republican Party (US)/meta/shading" | Tom Tierney	style="background-color:Template:Republican Party (US)/meta/shading" | Republican	1,479	10.96%

See also

• List of special elections to the United States House of Representatives

External links

Candidate Web Sites

Democratic

• Eileen Donoghue for Congress web site
• Jamie Eldridge for Congress web site
• Barry Finegold for Congress web site
• Jim Miceli for Congress web site
• Niki Tsongas for Congress web siteTemplate:Category handler

Republican

• Jim Ogonowski for Congress web site
• Tom Tierney for Congress web site

Constitution

• Kevin Thompson for Congress web site

Independent

• Kurt Hayes for Congress web site
• Patrick Murphy for Congress web site