Tsongas brings diversity to House delegation by beating Ogonowski
LOWELL, Mass. --Standing with the three daughters Paul Tsongas once feared would not remember him, Niki Tsongas claimed victory in her first run for elective office, bringing diversity to the Massachusetts congressional delegation for the first time in nearly 25 years.
The 61-year-old Lowell college dean beat back a stronger-than-expected challenge from Republican Jim Ogonowski of Dracut in a special election Tuesday to succeed Democrat Martin Meehan. He resigned in July to become chancellor of his alma mater, the University of Massachusetts-Lowell.
Tsongas won 51 percent, or 54,363 votes, compared to 45 percent or 47,770 votes for Ogonowski, whose brother John died in the Sept. 11 terror attacks after the American Airlines jet he was flying was hijacked and flown into the World Trade Center.
Tsongas will be sworn in at the Capitol on Thursday morning, in time for her to participate in a House vote on overriding President Bush's veto of expanded funding for the State Children's Health Insurance program.
Tsongas is the first woman to represent Massachusetts in either the House or Senate since 1983, when Republican Margaret Heckler left office after losing a re-election battle. The 5th District last had a female representative in 1960, when Edith Nourse Rogers of Lowell died after serving 35 years in the House.
"I think (Paul) would have been very happy with this for lots of reasons, but also because as the father of three daughters, it's important to have diversity in the delegation," Tsongas said of her late husband. He died in 1997 of aftereffects from the cancer that originally prompted him to retire from the Senate in 1985.
Ashley, Katina and Molly Tsongas, who jointly eulogized their father, stood on stage with their mother during her victory speech, as did Thaleia Schlesinger, one of Paul Tsongas's two sisters.
Paul Tsongas challenged then-Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton for the presidency in 1992 during a period of remission, winning the New Hampshire primary before ceding the primary race -- and eventually the White House -- to his fellow Democrat.
Both Niki Tsongas and Ogonowski, 50, a family farmer who retired from the Air Force in June after 28 years, alternately cast their race as a referendum on President Bush's policies or the beginning of a public upbraiding of the Democratically controlled House and Senate.
Ogonowski had repeatedly called on the need for tougher immigration laws during the campaign. He won in Andover, Methuen, Tewksbury and his hometown of Dracut. But Tsongas's support in the Merrimack Valley mill cities of Lowell and Lawrence was enough to earn her the seat.
"Tonight we sent a message to Washington that people are fed up with the partisan politics of Republicans and Democrats," Ogonowski told supporters in Dracut. "It is a message we must keep sending, and we will continue to send."
The National Republican Congressional Committee said in a statement Democrats have reason to worry, based on Ogonowski's showing.
"In a race that should have been won in a walk, Democrats were forced to funnel a massive amount of resources and dispatch an all-star cast of liberal icons at the 11th hour in order to ensure victory," the committee said.
The GOP blasted Tsongas for accepting campaign help from former President Clinton -- who came to the district to campaign for Tsongas, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and EMILY's List, a pro-female candidates' group that has aired TV ads critical of him.
Another campaign flashpoint for Tsongas was Bush's veto of expanded funding for health insurance for children. Tsongas lambasted Ogonowski for refusing to say before the election how he would vote.
Ogonowski had said he wouldn't declare his position on the SCHIP bill because he wanted to use his first day in Congress to try to negotiate an alternative. He said the measure, as written, contained loopholes providing coverage to illegal aliens.
Joining Tsongas and Ogonowski on the ballot were Independent candidates Kurt Hayes of Boxborough and Patrick Murphy of Lowell, as well as Constitution Party candidate Kevin Thompson of Brockton, a city located outside the northeastern Massachusetts district.
Murphy won 2 percent, or 2,170 votes; Hayes won 1 percent, or 1,125 votes, and Thompson had less than half a percent, or 494 votes.
Local Democrats took particular pride in Tsongas's victory, especially in the context of potential redistricting. Massachusetts has been losing population and could be forced to surrender one of its 10 House seats after the 2010 Census, but a redistricting plan that eliminated the lone woman in the delegation could be difficult to pass in the Legislature.
Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., who once served with Paul Tsongas, said in a statement: "I know her three wonderful daughters -- Ashley, Katina and Molly -- are very proud of her, and I'm sure Paul is watching and smiling down on all of them tonight."
