Foe's troubles tinge Chang-Diaz triumph

John Bohn / Globe StaffState Senate candidate Sonia Chang-Diaz walked into a victory party in Jamaica Plain last night. (John Bohn / Globe Staff)

Sonia Chang-Díaz sailed to an easy but bittersweet victory yesterday in her campaign for state Senate, after Boston incumbent Dianne Wilkerson dropped out of the race last week following her arrest on federal bribery charges.

Strictly by the numbers, it was a big win for Chang-Díaz. With 93 percent of precincts reporting, she had won roughly 80 percent of the vote. Of the remainder, 16 percent had either write-in, sticker votes or votes unreadable by ballot-counting machines, indicating they could be Wilkerson votes. Final results from a hand-count of the ballots were expected today.

Still, Chang-Díaz, a former schoolteacher from Jamaica Plain, faces a challenge to win over Wilkerson's core supporters. Some voters going to the polls yesterday said they believed that Wilkerson was victimized by authorities, and they voted for her despite the stunning FBI images of her allegedly accepting bribes.

Some Wilkerson supporters were distributing stickers at polls yesterday to affix to ballots for Wilkerson's write-in campaign, even though Wilkerson terminated her campaign Friday. Chang-Díaz, campaigning yesterday in Wilkerson's strongholds, repeatedly told voters that she wants to heal a deepy divided district.

At a victory rally last night at The Alchemist Restaurant and Lounge in Jamaica Plain, Chang-Díaz again touched on the need to develop unity.

"All of us have been shocked and saddened by the allegations that have emerged about Senator Wilkerson," she said. She pledged to push for more open government.

Wilkerson, who did not return calls seeking comment yesterday and did not hold a public event last night, has so far resisted pressure to resign from her Senate seat amidst the federal corruption probe. But she has promised to make an announcement regarding her future this morning. Chang-Díaz will not take over the seat until January.

Chang-Díaz spent much of the day visiting polling places in Roxbury and Dorchester, the heart of Wilkerson's former base of support in the district, which also encompasses parts of downtown Boston, Jamaica Plain, Back Bay, Beacon Hill, Chinatown, the South End, and the Fenway.

Chang-Díaz, slight and soft-spoken, said while campaigning earlier in the day that she knows she has an uphill climb ahead, with a district divided and still reeling from the federal allegations that Wilkerson, a senator for 15 years, accepted cash bribes totaling $23,500 in exchange for a liquor license for a Roxbury night club and development rights for a parcel of land in the neighborhood.

"I think it's been a real challenge for the community," Chang-Díaz said yesterday in Roxbury. "It's hard on the community and it makes it harder for any elected official."

There were signs at some voting stations that Wilkerson's supporters had not given up.

At one Roxbury polling place, someone had taped a Wilkerson flier over the blue signs of Chang-Díaz. The flier asked, "What happened to innocent until proven guilty?"

At the George A. Lewis Middle School, two former Wilkerson campaign volunteers with "Dianne delivers" stickers on their lapels were observed slipping stickers with Wilkerson's name to voters.

"She's always looked out for the community," said one of the workers, Dorchester resident Lesa Canty. "You can't always believe what you see."

It was a sentiment echoed by some voters, too. Machine tallies from 93 percent of the district's precincts indicated 1,267 were cast with write-in votes and another 8,816 had blank or unreadable votes. Wilkerson had waged a write-in campaign until dropping out.

Outside the Orchard Gardens Community Center in Roxbury, Irwin Capers, a 49-year-old unemployed electrician, said he voted for Wilkerson with a sticker.

"We've got politicians stealing all the time," Capers said. "That's why they talk about campaign reform. They do it all the time, and they don't get whacked. She did a lot for the community."

Chang-Díaz said she is eager to begin tackling the issues she believes are most pressing in her district, including protecting vital programs in the face of deep state budget cuts, curbing youth violence, and reforming criminal record information laws.

Chang-Díaz supporters said yesterday that she represents new energy in a district that desperately needs it.

Michael Levenson and Andrew Ryan of the Globe staff and correspondent John M. Guilfoil contributed to this report. Donovan Slack can be reached at dslack@globe.com.