Kerry bests 1st primary opponent in 24 years

BOSTON—Sen. John Kerry fended off his first Democratic opponent in nearly a quarter century, but he got a message from voters when his unknown challenger still earned more than 30 percent of the vote.

The Democratic presidential nominee just four years ago, Kerry said he knows there is "a lot of anger out there."

"Government has disappointed people and it's hard sometimes to get people to understand that just because you're in government doesn't mean you're not fighting for change," Kerry said after defeating Gloucester attorney Ed O'Reilly.

O'Reilly, who tried to make Kerry's 2003 vote authorizing President Bush to launch military action against Iraq a central issue of the campaign, said he was pleased to give voters a chance to express their frustration.

"We never wavered from the issues," he said. "We were outspent 10 to 1, and we got one-third of the vote. I think that was a pretty good showing."

Kerry now turns his attention to the November general election against Republican Jeff Beatty, a former CIA official and member of the Army's Delta Force, in the November general election.

Beatty said he wants to bring "accountability and focus to this state's junior Senate seat after 24 long years with John Kerry."

Sen. Edward Kennedy, battling a malignant brain tumor, voted Tuesday morning at Town Hall in Hyannis. He later congratulated Kerry on the win.

"I look forward to returning to the United States Senate with John Kerry in January as we work to get our economy moving again," Kennedy said.

In the most closely watched legislative race, Dianne Wilkerson, the lone black member of the Senate, narrowly lost her re-election bid in the Democratic primary despite the support of Gov. Deval Patrick and Boston Mayor Thomas Menino.

Wilkerson refused to concede defeat after results showed challenger Sonia Chang-Diaz with a 1 percent, or 228-vote, victory.

Wilkerson has been dogged by controversy for much of her 14-year Senate career, but this time, her financial troubles appeared to be too much for voters to ignore.

Last month, Wilkerson agreed to pay a $10,000 fine and forgo about $30,000 in debts she said her political committee owed her after acknowledging she failed to keep proper campaign records from 2000 to 2004.

And in the only other contested Congressional race, U.S. Rep. John Olver, a Democrat from Amherst, easily beat back a primary challenge by Stockbridge attorney Robert Feuer. Olver has held the state's western-most congressional seat since 1991.

Feuer had run as a strong critic of the Iraq war.

Olver said the next session of Congress presents an historic opportunity.

"With a new president, we have a chance to begin reversing the setbacks our nation has experienced over the last eight years," Olver said.

In other notable primaries:

-- Retired firefighter Kenneth Donnelly defeated Arlington Selectman John Hurd for the seat held by state Sen. James Marzilli, who faces charges that he sexually harassed four women on one day in June in Lowell and is not seeking re-election.

-- John Buonomo, the Democratic Middlesex County probate register charged with stealing from the Registry of Deeds in Cambridge, was elected without opposition despite his recent resignation, which came too late to remove his name from the ballot.

Buonomo is widely expected to withdraw from the race, at which point the ward and town Democratic committees in Middlesex County will pick a replacement to put on the November ballot.