Democrats in Massachusetts and Rhode Island picked female
candidates to represent their party in November gubernatorial elections,
setting the stage for either state to possibly elect its first woman governor.
In New Hampshire and Delaware, voters picked Republican
challengers to Democratic incumbents in the U.S. Senate as Republicans look to
regain a majority in that chamber. Massachusetts Attorney General Martha
Coakley and Rhode Island state Treasurer Gina Raimondo won competitive
primaries, with Coakley going on to face Republican businessman Charlie Baker
and Raimondo up against Cranston Mayor Allan Fung.
Coakley's rival, Baker, also focused his acceptance speech
on economic issues, contending he would be a steadier hand. Some Massachusetts
Democrats had expressed wariness about Coakley's chances in November after her
stunning 2010 loss to Scott Brown in a race to fill the U.S. Senate seat made
available by the death of Edward Kennedy.
Coakley's main rival was state Treasurer Steve Grossman.
Some of Grossman's supporters had told pollsters they would vote Republican if
their candidate lost the primary. Grossman asked his supporters to put the race
behind them and support their party.
While Massachusetts has a reputation for liberal politics,
its voters have elected only one Democratic governor in the past two decades,
the incumbent Deval Patrick, who decided not to seek a third term.
Coakley could become the first woman elected governor of
Massachusetts but the second to hold the office. Republican Jane Swift became
acting governor in 2001 when Paul Cellucci resigned to take a post as U.S.
ambassador to Canada.
Coakley's former rival, Brown, was on the ballot on Tuesday
in neighboring New Hampshire, where he won the Republican nomination to run for
the U.S. Senate, seeking to unseat Democratic incumbent Jeanne Shaheen.
Also in New Hampshire, Republican businessman Walt
Havenstein beat Tea Party activist Andrew Hemingway for the Republican
nomination to take on Governor Maggie Hassan. In New York, Democratic Governor
Andrew Cuomo held off a long-shot primary challenge by Zephyr Teachout, a
Fordham University law professor and former Occupy Wall Street activist.
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