State Rep. Erika Uyterhoeven fought off a challenger Tuesday in a Democratic primary to all but seal up a return to Beacon Hill for a third term, according to unofficial results from the Somerville Election Commission.
An hour after polls closed, the unofficial results for Somerville’s 27th Middlesex District showed Uyterhoeven with 5,705 votes to the 2,571 held by Kathleen Hornby, or 69 percent of the votes cast in that race.
There is no opponent on the ballot for the general election in November.
A win wasn’t a surprise to Uyterhoeven. “When you do grassroots campaigning, people-powered campaigning, you know the outcome because you’re talking to voters every day,” she said by phone as results began to be known and people began calling and coming up to her with congratulations.
The Hornby campaign called the loss disappointing but said she “made an impressive showing, becoming an influential voice in the conversation about what progressive democratic leadership should look like.” Still, in Massachusetts, 99 percent of incumbents win reelection and incumbency bias is strong, the campaign said in a press release, and Uyterhoeven “benefited from all the privileges that come with being an establishment candidate. This race was one of only a handful of competitive ones in the state.”
“I got into this race because I believe Somerville deserves effective leadership at the State House,” Hornby said. “I’m incredibly proud of the campaign we ran, and I look forward to continuing to serve my community.”
Progressive policies
Hornby, a former legislative aide for state Rep. Marjorie Decker – herself facing stiffer than usual competition in a primary to keep representing Cambridge’s 25th Middlesex District – won the endorsement of the Somerville Democratic City Committee over Uyterhoeven after a forum Aug. 8, but it wasn’t enough to sway the wider electorate in a city Uyterhoeven has represented since 2021.
“I’ve always been really upfront about fighting for real structural change in the State House and holding all of us to a higher standard and to be more accountable. That was also on the ballot this year,” Uyterhoeven said. “My positions were more progressive – I was for fare-free transit, and it’s similar to my first race, when my opponent also was not in support of Medicare for All and debt-free higher ed.”
She credited her win to her progressive policies. “It’s the bold, progressive policies and being more visionary and ambitious about what is possible in our state. Changing how the State House works is very important to my district,” Uyterhoeven said. “And now we have the receipts to prove it again.”
Committee endorsement
Hornby announced her candidacy in February. Like the incumbent, Hornby had strong progressive bona fides – and a contingent said Uyterhoeven was too far to the left to be effective legislator. “Somerville Democrats want someone on Beacon Hill who can get things done for our city,” committee chair Jack Perenick said after the vote. “We don’t take this step to endorse the challenger to an incumbent lightly.”
While the committee went for Hornby over Uyterhoeven 92-51, with 10 members voting “present,” that defied the incumbent’s history over the previous two elections: In the 2020 primary in which Uyterhoeven won her seat over Catia Sharp – another case in which the candidates seemed to have more similarities than differences – there were 14,471 votes cast, with Uyterhoeven taking 62 percent. She took 86 percent two years ago against Jason Daniel Mackey when 8,149 votes were cast.
Perenick wasn’t as confident of the message Uyterhoeven was drawing from results this year. There was low turnout, he said, while acknowledging “this was clearly a strong night for the incumbent.”
“We saw a divided but confident win for our state rep,” Perenick said. “We stand by who we endorsed, but our focus now returns to national elections and electing Kamala Harris as president.”
There was a hiccup in Tuesday’s count, Perenick said, though it will not affect the race’s outcome: A device that opens the secrecy envelopes accidentally sliced through one set of ballots, which had to be taped back together. “That’s going to be a small delay for Ward 2, but unless the result is within about 500 votes, it wouldn’t delay knowing who won,” he said.
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