2007 Massachusetts's 5th congressional district special election

Massachusetts held a special election to fill a vacancy in Massachusetts's 5th congressional district on October 16, 2007.^[1] Democrat Niki Tsongas won election to Congress, defeating Republican Jim Ogonowski in an election that was closer than expected.^[2]

2007 Massachusetts's 5th congressional district special election

← 2006 October 16, 2007 2008 →
Massachusetts's 5th congressional district
Nominee Niki Tsongas Jim Ogonowski Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 54,363 47,770 Percentage 51.3% 45.1%
Municipality results Tsongas:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70% Ogonowski:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%
U.S. Representative before election Marty Meehan Democratic Elected U.S. Representative Niki Tsongas Democratic

Marty Meehan had been the district's Representative to Congress since 1993. He announced his resignation in May 2007 (effective July 1), allowing him to become the next Chancellor of the University of Massachusetts Lowell.^[1] Meehan had last won re-election in 2006, when he ran unopposed. The district was considered to be strongly Democratic, as it voted 58% for the Democratic candidate (John Kerry) in the most recent presidential election. In addition, Massachusetts had not elected a Republican to Congress since Peter Blute and Peter Torkildsen were last elected to office in 1994 (both were defeated in 1996). No Republican had held the 5th congressional district's seat since Paul W. Cronin departed from office in 1975 after his defeat by Democrat Paul Tsongas in 1974.

A primary election was held on September 4, 2007, to determine each political party's nominee for the general election.^[1] Niki Tsongas won the Democratic nomination and Jim Ogonowski won the Republican nomination. Tsongas won the general election, held on October 16, 2007, with 51% of the vote; Ogonowski received 45%.

Candidates

All candidates for the election are listed alphabetically first by party, then by name. Bold is primary winners and general election candidates.

Constitution

• Kevin Thompson – State Constitution Party Secretary from Brockton

Democratic

• Eileen Donoghue – City Councilor and former Lowell Mayor
• Jamie Eldridge – State Representative from Acton
• Barry Finegold – State Representative from Andover
• Jim Miceli – State Representative from Wilmington
• Niki Tsongas – Dean at Middlesex Community College from Lowell, and widow of Paul Tsongas

Independent

• Kurt Hayes – Businessman from Boxborough
• Patrick O. Murphy – Brick and stonemason from Lowell^[3]

Republican

• Jim Ogonowski – Former Air Force Lt. Colonel from Dracut, and brother of John
• Thomas Tierney – Self-Employed Independent Consulting Actuary from Framingham

Withdrawn / not running

Democratic

• James DiPaola – Middlesex County Sheriff^[4]
• David O'Brien – Democratic National Committee member from Concord^[5]

Republican

• Fred Smerlas – Former NFL defensive lineman^[6]
• Michael J. Sullivan – Mayor of Lawrence^[7]

Polling

Democratic primary

Source	Date	Donoghue (D)	Eldridge (D)	Finegold (D)	Miceli (D)	Tsongas (D)
Survey USA[8]	Aug 27–29, 2007	29%	15%	9%	3%	40%
Survey USA[9]	Aug 11–13, 2007	16%	13%	14%	4%	38%
Kiley & Company[10]	Aug 8–9, 2007	18%	16%	13%	4%	34%
JEF Associates[11]	Aug 6–7, 2007	22%	7%	8%	4%	28%
Kiley & Company[12]	July 15, 2007	13%	12%	10%	4%	36%
JEF Associates[13]	Jun 28–30, 2007	17%	10%	13%	4%	26%
Kiley & Company[12]	May 22, 2007	9%	10%	11%	3%	38%
Garin-Hart-Yang Research[14]	May 3–4, 2007	13%	5%	10%	4%	36%	DiPaola (D)	O'Brien (D)
Kiley & Company[15]	Mar 23–24, 2007	9%	9%	8%	3%	35%	6%	3%

Republican primary

Source	Date	Ogonowski (R)	Tierney (R)
Survey USA[8]	Aug 27–29, 2007	72%	12%

General Election

Source	Date	Ogonowski (R)	Tsongas (D)	Thompson (C)	Hayes (I)	Murphy (I)
Survey USA[16]	Oct 8–10, 2007	42%	51%	0%	2%	4%
RCCC Poll[17]	Oct 1–5, 2007	39%	44%	N/A	N/A	N/A
Survey USA[18]	Sep 7–9, 2007	41%	51%	2%	2%	1%

Results

Bold indicates winner of nomination. Source: https://web.archive.org/web/20120207164837/http://www.thebostonchannel.com/politics/14003157/detail.html

General Election

Massachusetts's 5th congressional district special election, 2007

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Niki Tsongas	54,363	51.32	−48.68
	Republican	Jim Ogonowski	47,770	45.10	+45.10
	Independent	Patrick O. Murphy	2,170	2.05	+2.05
	Independent	Kurt Hayes	1,125	1.06	+1.06
	Constitution	Kevin Thompson	494	0.47	0.47
Majority			6,593	6%
Turnout			105,922
	Democratic hold		Swing	46.89% D to R

Democratic primary

Candidates		Democratic Primary Election, Sep 4
Candidate	Party	Votes	Percent
Niki Tsongas	Democratic	19,811	35.69%
Eileen Donoghue	Democratic	17,373	31.29%
Jamie Eldridge	Democratic	8,041	14.48%
Barry Finegold	Democratic	6,996	12.60%
Jim Miceli	Democratic	3,296	5.94%

Republican primary

Candidates		Republican Primary Election, Sep 4
Candidate	Party	Votes	Percent
Jim Ogonowski	Republican	12,014	89.04%
Tom Tierney	Republican	1,479	10.96%

See also

• List of special elections to the United States House of Representatives