Kennedy and Bielat to Face off for Fourth Congressional District Seat
Kennedy and Bielat both had huge victories in the district.
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After months of campaigning across a large and newly redrawn district, the pool of Fourth Congressional District candidates has officially been whittled down from six to two.
Democrat Joe Kennedy III and Republican Sean Bielat will be the two names on the November ballot for the Fourth Congressional District, according to reports from the Associated Press.
Despite the low voter turnout, Kennedy had a landslide victory against his two opponents, Rachel Brown and Herb Robinson, taking more than 90 percent of the vote according to AP reports.
"Tonight, I am honored to accept the Democratic nomination for the Fourth Congressional District of Massachusetts," Kennedy said in an emailed statement.
"First and foremost, I’d like to thank the more than 3,000 volunteers who made tonight possible. Together we knocked on over 40,000 doors, made nearly 175,000 phone calls, held over 200 events across the Fourth District and built an organization that can't be matched. And we’re just getting started," Kennedy said.
Kennedy is a former assistant district attorney for the Cape and Islands as well as Middlesex County. He is the grandson of Robert F. Kennedy and the son of former U.S. Rep. Joseph Kennedy II, who represented the Eighth Congressional District from 1987-1999.
And for the second time in two years, voters will see Sean Bielat's name on the ballot for the Fourth District; the Norfolk Republican ran against Barney Frank in 2010.
Bielat, a former U.S. Marine, managed to defeat fellow Republicans Elizabeth Childs and David Steinhof with more than 70 percent of the vote, the AP reported.
The winner of November's Fourth District race will replace veteran Congressman Barney Frank. The 16-term Democrat announced his retirement last year following the congressional redistricting in Massachusetts.
Shortly after Frank's announcement, names started flying around with potential replacements and at one point, the race had as many as nine potential candidates.
Bielat announced his candidacy in January, saying his campaign "started something in 2010 and we are going to finish it in 2012."
Launching his campaign in February, Kennedy was the last candidate to enter the race, although rumors about his candidacy had been floating around weeks before the official announcement.
Fourth District voters will determine their next congressman during the general election on Nov. 6, 2012.
Gretchen Robinson
2:20 pm on Friday, September 7, 2012
Vote Democratic. Let's have a clean sweep in November!
Jerry Chase
3:39 pm on Wednesday, September 12, 2012
As the French might say, "au contraire". Vote Republican!
Richard W. Lunt
3:49 pm on Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Vote Republican and let's have a clean sweep in November! Voting Democrat means higher unemployment, higher taxes, more job killing anti-business regulations, more welfare, and more free rides for the illegals.
Emcee of Seekonk
5:13 pm on Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Republicans all the way: Mitt Romney/Paul Ryan, Scott Brown and Sean Bielat.
Darren Major
5:43 pm on Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Voting Democratic will keep real leadership - Voting Republican is simply re-treading policies that brought us the problems our President has been trying to clear up!
Jerry Chase
1:49 pm on Thursday, September 13, 2012
Obama is so incompetent, he couldn't solve any national problem if he was president for forty years! He's a nothing. At least Jimmy Carter was an honorable man.
Gretchen Robinson
1:56 pm on Thursday, September 13, 2012
With his recent desperate attempt to distort Obama's position, I mean politicizing the attacks and killings in Lybia, Romney has shown his utter incompetence. Obama at least waits until he has more information. Romney just loses it and acts totally unpresidential. His foreign policy credentials are nil.
Eugene Robinson had a great line about this on MSNBC yesterday. Something like "if you're no good at domestic policy, you look like a fool; if you're not good at foreign policy, you can start a war."
deb of see-attleboro
2:11 pm on Thursday, September 13, 2012
"Obama at least waits...." Tell that to the Cambridge police officer who was just doing his job.
Our embassy was attacked. I think we are at war.
deb of see-attleboro
2:15 pm on Thursday, September 13, 2012
An ambassador and others were murdered. No high alert on the anniversary on 9/11?
Too busy campaigning to mind the store, I guess.
Ken Tenglin
2:36 pm on Thursday, September 13, 2012
Gretchen. Have you read the reports that this administration (the state department) banned the use of live ammunition to protect our personnel in Egypt? Have your left wing news sources pointed that fact out yet? This is like the Carter years, someone attacks US soil and we apologize if someone in our country offended anyone? We should retaliate with strong measures in order to discourage anyone from attempting acts of violence on us like this again. Diplomacy works very well when you have strength and resolve, not apologies.
Jerry Chase
7:02 pm on Thursday, September 13, 2012
Ken is right. I hold Obama responsible for the ambassador's death.
Jonathan Friedman
7:15 pm on Thursday, September 13, 2012
Jerry, could you please expand on that accusation?
Jerry Chase
3:56 pm on Friday, September 14, 2012
The current president is ultimately responsible because the security at the Bengazi consulate was greatly insufficient, and that the few security people there were not allowed to have live ammunition. Look how Obama just walks away from reporters' questions on the matter. The president is the chief officer in charge of our military and our state departments. He carelessly failed to do his duty. A properly secured consultate or embassy would have been equipped to protect the Americans within.
Gretchen Robinson
10:08 pm on Thursday, September 13, 2012
at 10PM as more information is coming out. The killings in Benghazi were part of a concerted attack, not part of a protest (as in Egypt). If Romney had just waited, if Romney had just expressed condolences, and support for the nation as it goes through this together, he'd have avoided this massive misstep. Romney ill-served his campaign and he ill-served this country.
It WAS a serious mistake and does he have the right temperament and the right character. I could see that even when he was government, that Romney is shallow, to put it as inoffensively as I can. Now the world sees it.
Richard W. Lunt
8:35 am on Friday, September 14, 2012
Romney showed the guts to stand up the Muslims that attacked our U.S. Embassy on the anniversary of 9/11. That is the kind of leader that we need for our country, not a President who apologizes to the Muslim thugs who killed our U.S. Ambassador.