Latino voters key to incumbent's victory
LAWRENCE -- As supporters chanted ''four more years," the entourage surrounding Mayor Michael J. Sullivan and celebrating his victory over Marcos Devers included a sizable number of Latinos who mixed in various Spanish shouts.
In this city of 72,000 where about half of the registered voters are Latino, Sullivan, a Republican, easily defeated the Dominican-born Devers, a Democrat seeking to become the first elected Latino mayor in Massachusetts. Sullivan's 61 percent to 39 percent victory Tuesday came with the help of a significant number of Latino voters.
Sullivan's Latino supporters say their city's race wasn't about electing a Latino mayor. School Superintendent Wilfredo Laboy said it was about reelecting a man who has been responsive to the city's Latino community and is making positive changes for all residents.
''There's been a long history in this city of excluding," Laboy said. ''For the first time, we find a mayor who has been embracive, has included the Latino community, has empowered the Latino community."
Since taking office four years ago, Sullivan has hired Latinos for several key positions in his administration. At public appearances, he often brings a Spanish translator. During the campaign, he advertised in Spanish-language newspapers, focusing on how education, neighborhoods, and safety had improved during his tenure.
That strategy helped Sullivan garner enough support from Latinos to win a second term, said Giovanna Negretti, executive director of the statewide Latino political group ¿Oíste?
Low voter turnout might have also helped the mayor, said Marguerite P. Kane, a political science professor at Merrimack College in North Andover. Yesterday's 30 percent turnout was the lowest for a Lawrence mayoral election in 50 years, Kane said.
In 2001, when Sullivan edged local activist Isabel Melendez by less than 1,000 votes, turnout was around 50 percent. Kane said the difference in that race was that Melendez generated a lot of excitement throughout the city's Latino community. ''Marcos [Devers], I think, didn't have the charisma that Isabel had as a candidate," said Kane.
The low turnout Tuesday may also have resulted from confusion over whether inactive voters could vote, Kane said. City officials were late in mailing out a required notice to voters placed on the inactive list for not voting in the last city election or not responding to the last city census.
Kane said the city's changing demographics will possibly lead to a Latino mayor in the near future. According to the 2000 US Census, 60 percent of the city's residents are Latino.
Kane said, ''I would say that Mike Sullivan may be the last Anglo mayor in the city of Lawrence."
In Lowell, voters elected the first Latino to the City Council. George Ramirez, a 41-year-old lawyer and a native of Colombia who moved to Lowell when he was 8, won the final seat on the nine-member council.
''I ran a mainstream campaign to appeal to all the voters, not just Hispanic voters," said Ramirez, who finished 11th in 2003. ''You can't win unless you're a good crossover candidate." 