LOWELL — State Rep. Vanna Howard has won the 1st Middlesex District state Senate election in unofficial results from the cities and towns in the district, over Republican candidate Sam Meas and unenrolled candidate Joe Espinola.
The unofficial totals were Howard, 4,276; Meas, 1,693; and Espinola, 1,370.
The special election was held to fill the state Senate post after the death of state Sen. Edward Kennedy last year.
Howard said during the day on Tuesday, that, “Sen. Ed Kennedy was a colleague and a friend, so (if elected) I hope to continue his work in education, housing, environmental protection, decent health care and lowering the cost of living right now because we are being priced out. There’s not enough housing that is affordable.”
Howard was the top vote-getter in all cities and towns in the district except Dracut, which was won by Espinola.
Town numbers were:
• Lowell: Howard, 2,519; Meas, 545; and Espinola, 504.
• Dracut: Espinola, 627; Howard, 485; and Meas, 450.
• Dunstable: Howard, 245; Meas, 140; and Espinola, 31.
• Pepperell: Howard, 645; Meas, 332; and Espinola, 67.
• Tyngsboro: Howard, 382; Meas, 226; and Espinola, 141.
While a few stray votes are sometimes initially counted incorrectly, unofficial election results are usually quite close to the final results, which will be posted after the city and town clerks double-check all the votes.
Howard has served as the representative for the 17th Middlesex District since her first election victory in 2020. Now she is moving to the state Senate more than halfway through her current term, which will remain vacant until it can be filled in the regularly scheduled election later this year. The state primaries are scheduled for Sept. 1, while the general election for the midterms will be Nov. 3.
“Special elections in the House of Representatives are called by the Speaker of the House. There is no law requiring a special election [to] occur, however, and it would be unusual at this point in an election year for one to be called,” said Secretary of the Commonwealth spokesperson Debra O’Malley in an email to The Sun Wednesday. “Nomination papers for the regular election have been available for nearly a month already, and they must be filed with local election offices by April 28. At this point, no special election could be held until July at the earliest, when ballots for the September 1st State Primary will already be in the mail.”
Kennedy’s death in October was less than halfway into the current term, and state Senate President Karen Spilka called for a special election.
Howard advanced to the general election after beating state Rep. Rodney Elliott in the Democratic primary Feb. 3. If she is to retain the seat, she will have to run for it again in the midterms.
In a phone call Wednesday, Meas reaffirmed his own previous commitment to running for the seat again in the midterm elections later this year. Still, Meas said Tuesday’s result was “disappointing.”
“Voter turnout was not as strong as we anticipated,” said Meas, suggesting the snow storm that hit the region on election day may have helped keep turnout low.
“On top of that, I had to compete against another Democrat-lite with Joe Espinola, and he took some votes,” said Meas. “I hope Vanna Howard, as state senator-elect, will fulfill her promises on affordable housing, an affordable cost of living and the cost of energy … and I hope she will change her mind on the audit.”
Howard and Espinola did not return requests for comment from The Sun Wednesday.
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