Tara Jacobs Wins Nomination for Governor's Council
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Tara Jacobs is poised to become the first Berkshire County representative on the Governor's Council.
The School Committee member stunned the powers that be with an upset win over three attorneys for the Democratic nomination for the 8th District.
"It's amazing ... It was a nail-biter to the end," said Jacobs after her closest opponent, Michael Fenton, a Springfield city councilor, conceded the race around noon. "I'm riding on a cloud today. I really was the underdog that no one saw coming. I think it upset a lot of expectations on how a race should be run."
She was sitting at 33.1 percent of the vote on Wednesday afternoon with nearly 96 percent of votes counted, according to the Associated Press. Some 2,755 votes separated her from Fenton.
Fenton had been endorsed by Mary Hurley, former Springfield mayor, who was stepping down from the Governor's Council after three terms.
Trailing behind the two leaders were Shawn Allyn of Agawam at 20.5 percent and Jeffrey Morneau of East Longmeadow at 16.6 percent.
Jacobs had eked out a slim lead of about 200 late Tuesday night and that had dropped to just over 100 by early Wednesday. But a flood of votes coming in from Berkshire on Wednesday boosted her numbers by nearly 3,000.
"Yay, Berkshire County coming through!" cheered Jacobs. "Berkshire County went from like 63 percent [reporting] to 99 and it was like boom!"
There's still work over the next seven weeks against Republican candidate is John Comerford of Palmer, a retired investigator and veterans service officer. But now, Jacobs is finding support she couldn't get before. The phone calls and texts have been coming in for hours, she said.
She described her campaign as "underground" and largely dependent on on-the-ground, grassroots connections. Jacobs raised less than $10,000; her biggest expenditures were for two billboards. She bought 100 lawn signs but didn't even distribute all of them.
(In contrast, Fenton raised $68,000 this year, Allyn $100,000 and Morneau, $43,000.)
What she did do was hand out business cards in bags of candy, post handmade flyers everywhere and invest in Facebook ads.
"I literally gave out hundreds and hundreds of handmade brochures. I flyered like crazy — libraries, laundrymats, coffee shops, community boards," she said. "I did things that were different, that took advantage of the fact I didn't have money but wanted to connect. ..
"I literally want to be the voice of the people so I went to senior centers, recovery centers, community centers, bus stops and parks educating people about the Governor's Council. ... I wanted to be everywhere and talk to everyone. That's not realistic but I did my best to make a splash — and it worked."
Jacobs has spent months crisscrossing the broad 8th District that covers most of the four counties in Western Mass. She spent election day making a loop around the district before coming home to win her hometown.
The hardest part may have been educating people on a holdover body from the colonial era that's little talked about. The council approves a range of judicial and administrative appointments as well as certain warrants and members of boards, and justices of the peace.
Jacobs ran on a platform of bringing the perspective of equity and community in the deliberation process and being more transparent of how this little understood office functions.
One thing that stood out to her was how "gracious, respectful and civil" the election was. Jacobs said she and her opponents stuck to the facts and debated policy, rather than getting into mudslinging.
"It's a model of what an election should be," she said.
She said she learned a lot during the campaign and feels it made her more confident. Another woman had told her she was brave and she thinks more women should take that step for office.
"It's been an adventure and amazing experience," she said. "I want to encourage more women to be brave and step in and take on leadership roles like this ... I hope to be a mentor [for other women to run]."
In other county races, John Barrett III has won another term as state representative for the First Berkshire District against challenger Paula Kingsbury-Evans, a recent graduate of Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts. Barrett, former longtime mayor of North Adams, pulled in about 72 percent of the vote in the expanded district. He has no opponent in the general election.
State Rep. Paul Mark moves on to the general election as the Democratic nominee for state Senate after beating opponent Huff Tyler Templeton III of Williamstown with almost 86 percent of the vote. Mark's Second Berkshire will no longer exist because of redistricting and he is seeking to succeed Adam Hinds, who stepped down from the Senate to make an unsuccessful run for lieutenant governor.
Mark will face off against independent candidate Brendan Phair, a paraprofessional educator at Taconic High School, who has been endorsed by the Berkshire County Republicans.
Tags: election 2022,
