By Rajashree Ghosh, Guest Columnist

May 1 or May Day, is Labor (spelled Labour in India) Day in India. This is not to be confused with the distress signal which is a call for help, and is derived from the French word m'aider mainly used by boats and aircrafts via radio to communicate the call for help. The first day of the month of May is an official public holiday every year. India is one of the many countries that celebrates Labor Day each year on May 1. The first Labor Day in the country was organized by the Labour Kisan Party of Hindustan in Madras on May 1, 1923.

All over the world, May Day continues to symbolize the international struggle of the working class against the capitalist system. It is a day when workers can raise their class demands for unity and against racism, imperialist war, national chauvinism and the entire ruling class. The legacy of May Day provides optimism for future struggles to come. May 1 is a national holiday in more than 80 countries and celebrated unofficially in many other countries. However, many countries do not celebrate Labour Day on May 1. In Australia, Labour Day is celebrated on the first Monday of October. The United States of America and Canada are also among the exceptions. This, despite the fact that the holiday began in the 1880s in the USA.

Looking at the history of the May 1, the struggle for the eight-hour day began in the 1860s. In 1884, the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions of the United States and Canada, organized in 1881 (and changing its name in 1886 to American Federation of Labor ) passed a resolution which asserted that "eight hours shall constitute a legal day's work from and after May 1, 1886, and that we recommend to labor organizations throughout this district that they so direct their laws as to conform to this resolution". The following year the Federation repeated the declaration that an eight-hour system was to go into effect on May 1, 1886. With workers being forced to work ten, twelve, and fourteen hours a day, support for the eight-hour movement grew rapidly. In the months prior to May 1, 1886, thousands of workers, organized and unorganized, members of the organization Knights of Labor and of the federation, were drawn into the struggle. Chicago was the main center of the agitation for a shorter day. The anarchists were in the forefront of the Central Labor Union of Chicago, which consisted of 22 unions in 1886, among them the seven largest in the city. International Workers' Day is the commemoration of the Haymarket Event in Chicago in 1886. In 1889, the first congress of the Second International, meeting in Paris for the centennial of the French Revolution and the Exposition Universelle (1889), following an initiative from the American Federation of Labor, called for international demonstrations on the 1890 anniversary of the Chicago protests. These were so successful that May Day was formally recognized as an annual event at the International's second congress in 1891. State, business leaders, mainstream union officials, and the media and the United States government declared May 1st to be "Law Day", and gave the workers instead Labor Day, the first Monday of September - a holiday devoid of any historical significance.

Around the world and especially in Asia low paid workers held demonstrations to demand higher wages, better benefits and improved working conditions a week after a Bangladesh garment factory building collapse killed hundreds — a grim reminder of how lax safety regulations make going to work a danger in many poor countries. The New York Times reported that factories in Bangladesh, churn out clothing for brands like Tommy Hilfiger, Gap, Calvin Klein and H&M. Global retailers like Target and Walmart now operate sourcing offices in Dhaka, the capital. Garments are critical to Bangladesh’s economy, accounting for 80 percent of manufacturing exports and more than three million jobs. The country also has the lowest labor costs in the world, with the minimum wage for garment workers set at roughly $37 a month. During the past two years, as workers have seen their meager earnings eroded by double-digit inflation, protests and violent clashes with the police have become increasingly common.

Reports are coming in about laborers in Indonesia, Cambodia, the Philippines and elsewhere marched and chanted en masse Wednesday, sounding complaints about being squeezed by big business amid the surging cost of living.

Many of the Asian countries provide the manufacturing ground for world's largest multinational companies. Developing countries in Asia are increasingly attractive to multi-national companies (MNCs) because they enable bargaining power over wages. And cheap labor is central to the low-skilled industry’s growth. Labor costs account for only 1% to 3% of the retail price paid by the final customer, while profit margins are more than 50%. MNCs are able to take advantage of emerging markets in developing countries, and locating production facilities in these countries works to their financial advantage. As MNCs seek to increase market share through expansion - a critical factor in remaining competitive globally they prefer countries that fulfill both of the requirements of low cost production and easy access to emerging markets.

Workers rights are human rights and May 1 is only one day of the year that their voices are allowed to be louder and globally it needs to be a movement linked to wider issues of social change. There is increased need labor standards with American trade policy and for global bodies like the International Labor Organization to become more effective. A steady process of ensuring core labor standards needs to ensure in the spirit of International Worker’s Day.

Rajashree Ghosh is a resident scholar at the Women's Studies Research Center at Brandeis University in Waltham.

By Stephanie Francis, Globe Correspondent

Gatherers left roses and wrote notes on banners at Tuesday's vigil on Boston Common.

Photo: Christina Jedra for The Boston Globe

By Rajashree Ghosh, Guest Columnist

April 15 2013 – how I looked forward to the day on April 14 2013! It was going to be Marathon Monday and my plans were to sit back at home, relax and enjoy the day as it unfolded.

And you know what? It was also the Bengali New Year. Bengalis – are those who belong to the state of West Bengal in India and even those from Bangladesh. Called “Poila Baisakh” or the first day of the month of Baisakh is celebrated with family, sharing the bounties of harvest, making delicacies to welcome the New Year and seeking blessings from those older.

As immigrants we tend to latch onto festivals that can be celebrated abroad where we live without much effort. Some festivals require complicated rituals which unless you gather resources and material, it is hard to pull it off. But Poila Baisakh is always simple and picking up the phone to call or answer calls and wish is the easiest thing to do. It is such a folksy day (unlike other stern, ritualistic festivals) that welcomes all and it is the inclusive nature of the day that makes me happy and I look forward to it every year. It gives me a chance to carry forward some of my traditions and I surprise myself sometimes at the food I whip up like my mother did. As a child watching her cook and helping her around in the kitchen has paid off although at the time of, it was a chore!

In the news early morning I read that US Secretary of State John Kerry sent his Poila Baisakh wishes to the Bengali speaking people across the world. “On behalf of President Obama, I convey my warm greetings to all Bengali speaking people around the world as you celebrate Poila Baisakh. The American people wish you all happiness and prosperity in the New Year,” he said in a statement. Those words made me feel like it was going to be a beautiful day. Some days are just like that.

As I finished my calls to India by late noon, wishing friends and family I was wondering what would be on our festive dinner menu. It must have been around 3 pm that I switched on the news and all channels on TV had a rider at the bottom of the screen saying “breaking news.” What was so urgent that they had to stop regular programming? Maybe the Marathon runners were being felicitated, I thought. I waited for the sound to come on and that is when I realized how ominous the day had turned into.

I looked aghast at the at the plume of smoke and fire as the “explosions” came on, people running injured and crying, the shock on their faces writ large and the police, EMTs scattered on the screen. It took me back to 9/11 and the subsequent fear, shock and devastation. Why? And why Boston? People from all over the world were participating – what a way to target innocent people! Time stood still and all the festive spirit with which the day started for me had completely diminished.

Again calls poured in from India and rest of the country asking if we were safe – and everyone asked about the eight year old Martin who lost his life and his mother and sister have serious injuries. What has the world come to? Who are the people who thrive on killing a child? And innocent by standers supporting and cheering on the runners – what was their fault? In the years that I have spent in and around Boston and made it my home I have never seen anything as violent, despicable and alarming as this. May be DC because it is the political hot seat, maybe New York because of its financial status but never Boston. I made calls to people I know who work and live around Boston and was relieved to learn they were safe but for some it was quite close. Either they walked down Boylston Street minutes before the explosion or they were stopped by the police much before they reached the finish line.

My day changed. If the New Year begins on such a violent note, what is the rest of the year going to be like? I shudder as I keep my eyes peeled on the news updates. Stories of brave men and women helping those injured pour in. Yes we are in mourning – we have lost people – lives and their being. We have lost a way of living and trusting.

What I am sometimes uncertain about is how as a regular law abiding, hard working immigrant am I supposed to mourn? Is there a template that I could follow so I am recognized as a viable mourner? Am I allowed to be part of a shared sense of loss? I see my colleagues share their experiences as Marathon runners, bystanders and just regular people and then write about how “American” it is to help each other in times of distress. At one go, I am shut off from what is going on.

Did I hear that the devices used were packaged in a pressure cooker? It is as common as an oven or a microwave for an American as a pressure cooker is for many cultures and cooking. It even forms part of wedding trousseau because the cookers are sturdy and last a life time just like silverware and dishes in this country.

At this point I am angry that something so cultural has been usurped for a heinous crime. And I want to reclaim that and much, much more. At the time of writing this piece, no one had been found responsible or at least reported. I hope they do find out and soon because we are hurting and need closure.

Understandably, loss is private, personal but when there is breakdown of the normal, let us recognize that bereavement is across family, community, national boundaries and an essential step in rebuilding our lives.

Rajashree Ghosh is a resident scholar at the Women's Studies Research Center at Brandeis University in Waltham.

By David Nyhan, Globe Staff

The late Globe columnist David Nyhan wrote the following column in 1987. Since then, it has been reprinted in the newspaper and online many times around this time of year. Nyhan died in January 2005.

THE REJECTIONS arrive this time of year in thin, cheap envelopes, some with a crummy window for name and address, as if it were a bill, and none with the thick packet you'd hoped for.

''Dear So-and-so:

''The admissions committee gave full consideration . . . but I regret to inform you we will be unable to offer you a place in the Class of 2012." Lots of applicants, limited number of spaces, blah blah blah, good luck with your undergraduate career. Very truly yours, Assistant Dean Blowhard, rejection writer, Old Overshoe U.

This is the season of college acceptance letters. So it's also the time of rejection. You're in or you're out. Today is the day you learn how life is not like high school. To the Ins, who got where they wanted to go: Congrats, great, good luck, have a nice life, see you later. The rest of this is for the Outs.

You sort of felt it was coming. Your SAT scores weren't the greatest. Your transcript had some holes in it. You wondered what your teachers' recommendations would really say, or imply. And you can't help thinking about that essay you finished at 2 o'clock in the morning of the day you absolutely had to mail in your application, that essay which was, well, a little weird.

Maybe you could have pulled that C in sociology up to a B-minus. Maybe you shouldn't have quit soccer to get a job to pay for your gas. Maybe it was that down period during sophomore year when you had mono and didn't talk to your teachers for three months while you vegged out. What difference does it make what it was? It still hurts.

It hurts where you feel pain most: inside. It's not like the usual heartache that kids have, the kind other people can't see. An alcoholic parent, a secret shame, a gaping wound in the family fabric, these are things one can carry to school and mask with a grin, a wisecrack, a scowl, a just-don't-mess-with-me-today attitude.

But everybody knows where you got in and where you didn't. Sure, the letter comes to the house. But eventually you've still got to face your friends. ''Any mail for me?" is like asking for a knuckle sandwich. Thanks a lot for the kick in the teeth. What a bummer.

How do you tell kids at school? That's the hard part. The squeals in the corridor from the kids who got in someplace desirable. The supercilious puss on the ones who got early acceptance or the girl whose old man has an in at Old Ivy.

There's the class doofus who suddenly becomes the first nerd accepted at Princeton, the 125-pound wrestling jock who, surprise, surprise, got into MIT. But what about you?

You've heard about special treatment for this category or that category, alumni kids on a legacy ticket or affirmative action luckouts or rebounders or oboe players. Maybe they were trying to fill certain slots. But you're not a slot. You're you. They can look at your grades and weigh your scores and see how many years you were in French Club. But they can't look into your head, or into your heart. They can't check out the guts department.

This is the important thing: They didn't reject you. They rejected your resume. They gave some other kid the benefit of the doubt. Maybe that kid deserved a break. Don't you deserve a break? Sure. You'll get one. Maybe this is the reality check you needed. Maybe the school that does take you will be good. Maybe this is the day you start to grow up.

Look at some people who've accomplished a lot and see where they started. Ronald Reagan? Eureka College. Jesse Jackson? They wouldn't let him play quarterback in the Big Ten, so he quit Illinois for North Carolina A & T. Do you know that the recently retired chairmen and CEOs of both General Motors and General Electric graduated from UMass? Bob Dole? He went to Washburn Municipal University.

The former minority leader of the United States Senate, Tom Daschle, went to South Dakota State. The former speaker of the US House of Representatives, J. Dennis Hastert, went to Northern Illinois University. Dick Armey, the former House majority leader, took a bachelor's degree from Jamestown College. Winston Churchill? He was so slow a learner that they used to write to his mother to come take this boy off our hands.

I know what you think: Spare me the sympathy. It still hurts. But let's keep this in perspective. What did Magic Johnson say to the little boy who also tested HIV positive? ''You've got to have a positive attitude." What happens when you don't keep a positive attitude? Don't ask.

This college thing? What happened is that you rubbed up against the reality of big-time, maybe big-name, institutions. Some they pick, some they don't. You lost. It'll happen again, but let's hope it won't have the awful kick. You'll get tossed by a girlfriend or boyfriend. You won't get the job or the promotion you think you deserve. Some disease may pluck you from life's fast lane and pin you to a bed, a wheelchair, a coffin. That happens.

Bad habits you can change; bad luck is nothing you can do anything about.

Does it mean you're not a good person? People like you, if not your resume. There's no one else that can be you. Plenty of people think you're special now, or will think that, once they get to know you. Because you are.

And the admissions department that said no? Screw them. You've got a life to lead.

Six Boston area students have been named to the first-ever National Youth Orchestra, among 120 young musicians nationwide who have been recognized by Carnegie Hall for their exceptional talent.

"The musicians of the first National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America will travel to New York in late June 2013 for a rigorous two-week training residency on the campus of Purchase College, State University of New York, working with some of the country’s best professional orchestral players,'' according to the Carnegie Hall blog.

"The young musicians will then have the opportunity to represent their country as the NYO-USA undertakes its inaugural international tour with stops at Washington DC’s Kennedy Center, followed by dates in Moscow, St. Petersburg, and London.''

See further coverage from WBUR here. And here are their names:

Horn
Leah Meyer, Belmont, MA

Trombone
Brian Wendel, Conway, MA

Violin
Enchi Chang, Belmont, MA

Flute
Elizabeth Sperry, Chelmsford, MA

Clarinet
Madison Freed, Brookline, MA
Tom Jeon, Lexington, MA

Below is a video, as reported by WBUR, that was submitted by Jeon:

Sixteen high schools throughout the state have been named Sweet 16 regional finalists in the 28th Annual Statewide High School Mock Trial Program presented by the Massachusetts Bar Association, according to a press release. They will continue in the program by competing in trials throughout this week.

The Mock Trial Program places high school teams in a simulated courtroom situation, where they take on the roles of plaintiff attorneys, defense attorneys and witnesses. Local attorneys serve as both team coaches and judges for the trials.

This year’s criminal case, the prosecution alleges the defendant poisoned and killed his great-aunt by tampering with her medication. The defense claims the great-aunt either died of a natural heart attack or was murdered by either her live-in caretaker or another relative upset about her reduction of their inheritance.

The Sweet 16 winners vied for their titles by competing in trials throughout January and February. More than 130 high schools across the state initially signed up to participate in the program.

After this week's trials, the 16 regional winners will be whittled down to eight teams. Those eight will compete next week for a chance to reach the semi-final elimination round, where four teams will face off during trials held simultaneously on March 18 in Boston and Worcester.

The two remaining teams will compete for the state championship on March 20 in the Great Hall of Boston's Faneuil Hall. In 2012, The Pioneer Valley Performing Arts Charter Public School of South Hadley won the state championship, its second in a row, and competed in the national tournament.

Here are the 16 regional winners:

Region 1: Cape Cod Academy, Osterville

Region 2: Bishop Feehan High School, Attleboro

Region 3: Marshfield High School

Region 4: Wayland High School

Region 5: Sharon High School

Region 6: Franklin High School

Region 7: The Winsor School, Boston

Region 8: Maimonides School, Brookline

Region 9: Winthrop Sr. High School

Region 10: Marblehead High School

Region 11: Lexington High School

Region 12: Chelmsford High School, North Chelmsford

Region 13: Francis W. Parker Charter Essential School, Devens

Region 14: Holy Name Central Catholic High School, Worcester

Region 15: Pioneer Valley Performing Arts Charter Public School, South Hadley

Region 16: Southwick-Tolland Regional High School

By Rajashree Ghosh, Guest Columnist

Time flies, heals; time comes and goes; time changes things and more. History is sometimes what happened yesterday and for others it was way back 300 years ago. Nations that have been colonized continue to exist with history in the forefront of their existence. India is no different. It’s colonized past is very much a part of what it is today. Even the generations that did not directly experience the British rule somehow continue to talk of time as before 1947 and after. And well the language they speak in, namely English is also a colonial import!

In a recent visit to India, the British Prime Minister David Cameron laid a wreath at the site of a notorious 1919 massacre. Known in history and public conscience as the Jallianwala Bagh massacre where with one ghastly order “fire”, the British general Dyer and his soldiers killed close to a 1000 unarmed people. The number of victims killed or injured has been a source of debate between Indians and the British but both agree the incident did happen. This incident has long been seen as one of the British Empire’s most shameful episodes. Indian scholars and students of history deem this incident a crucial moment in the country’s struggle for freedom.

“This was a deeply shameful event in British history — one that Winston Churchill rightly described at that time as monstrous,” Mr. Cameron wrote in the visitor’s notebook at the pink granite memorial. Like the queen before him, Mr. Cameron did not offer a full apology. A very sensitive and patient Indian media kept its ears open for more and was left quite disappointed. Mr. Cameron stopped short of apologizing for the attack, though, which some Indians had hoped would happen. His words of regret touched off a debate in India about what Britain’s current leaders owe India’s citizens, if anything, for the errors of their predecessors.

Britain’s colonial history is so replete with regrettable episodes that officials have quietly worried that an apology for one episode might lead to an outpouring of demands for similar apologies all over the world. In addition the British Foreign Secretary, William Hague had stated, "We have to get out of this post-colonial guilt," And that the British need to “be confident in ourselves.” “The days of Britain having to apologize for its colonial history are over". The question is has there ever been any apology expressed for British imperialism?

The Empire as we know it has virtually ceased to exist in global memory like an awkward phase in someone’s life and you know it happened but choose to not talk about it and hope everyone else does not remember.

India, the "jewel in the crown" of the British Empire was the richest of Britain’s overseas possessions, the center and symbol of empire, as the imaginative Disraeli realized when in 1876 he had Queen Victoria proclaimed empress of India. At the beginning of the 18th-century – before it was conquered – its share of the world economy was well over a fifth, nearly as large as all of Europe put together. By the time the country won independence, it had dropped to less than 4 per cent Throughout the nineteenth century many British “lived off India.” Some of them were in private business, but most were military and civilian workers. Yet Indians were gradually working their way into positions of greater responsibility, into both private and public posts at the policy-making level.

Western knowledge permeated into India and in some ways changed itself and changed the language of learning. In the 1800’s British financed schools to spread Western knowledge in the hopes of eliminating indigenous knowledge. For Indians western education was imbued with importance and status and for some their jobs and fortunes depended on it. Even today almost anything serious about knowledge in India is based on western pedagogy.

So when Cameron extends a hand, Indians wonder – trade it was that East Indian Company found reason to walk into the country and trade it is now. There are 1.5 million British voters of Indian descent he wishes to appease and yet the issue of post-study work visa for students in Britain remains unresolved. David Cameron has urged the Indian government to cut "regulation and red tape" in a bid to encourage more trade and investment involving UK businesses. UK wants to be the “partner of choice.” Additionally, what was left as evidence of the “burgeoning partnership” was a proposed joint cyber taskforce. The venture has been trailed as part of efforts to secure the personal information of millions of Britons stored on Indian servers against “cyber-attacks by terrorists, criminals and hostile states”.

Times have changed and this time it is different – a socio-political environment that dictates relationships between nations. Yet the memory of colonization is still very real, and the lived experiences of those times form the bedrock for future diplomatic relationships. May we all remember!

Rajashree Ghosh is a resident scholar at the Women's Studies Research Center at Brandeis University in Waltham.

Guraraj "Desh" Deshpande, a local entrepreneur, investor and philanthropist, has been named the 2013 Person of the Year by the India New England newspaper.

In an article posted Tuesday, India New England cited Deshpande's "continual influence in innovation and entrepreneurism.''

". . . unlike the serial entrepreneurs who repeatedly start and sell one cutting-edge company after another, Deshpande's efforts now are focused on helping others succeed in the startup world,'' India New England wrote, noting that he has helped create at least 100 companies.

His legacy includes the Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation at MIT. According to his biography, the Deshpande Foundation "has helped establish three other centers; Deshpande Center for Social Entrepreneurship in India, Merrimack Valley Social Entrepreneurship Sandbox in Lowell/Lawrence Massachusetts and Pond-Deshpande Center at the University of New Brunswick in Canada.''

He is listed as President and Chairman of Sparta Group LLC; Chairman of A123 Systems (AONE), Sycamore Networks (SCMR), Tejas Networks, and HiveFire.

Sycamore announced plans last fall to liquidate. A Chinese firm has been okayed to purchase A123.

Deshpande and his wife Jaishree have also donated millions to causes, including the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem. The Deshpande's Peabody Essex donation, coupled with a second donation from another contributor, nearly tripled the area for Indian art at the museum.

By Andrea Estes, Globe Staff

Democrats retained their overwhelming majority in the Massachusetts state Senate, leading in most contested races including the hard-fought battle for the seat held by Senate President Therese Murray, who fended off a challenge brought by the Republican who nearly beat her two years ago.

“This is a big red district and I’m the only Democrat ever elected here,” said Murray, who defeated her opponent, Thomas F. Keyes, by a wide margin. Two years ago, Keyes won nearly half of the vote. “Republicans and unenrolleds came out and voted for me. It makes me feel that people appreciate the job I’m doing and I appreciate their vote.”

Democrats also won the races to succeed three Democratic senators who decided not to seek reelection: Steven Baddour of Methuen; Frederick E. Berry of Peabody and Susan Fargo of Lincoln.

The only Republican senator to face an opponent was well ahead in early returns — Robert Hedlund of Weymouth.

In Fargo’s former district, former Democratic state senator Michael J. Barrett of Lexington, made a political comeback, claiming victory before 9 p.m. According to his campaign, he beat Chelmsford Republican Sandi Martinez by a wide margin.

“I feel the work ethic kicking in. It’s not elation, it’s kind of a sober sense of responsibility,” he said. “I’ve got to deliver, the state has to deliver — the problems seem huge, some of the environmental issues, some of the job creation challenges seem enormous. I’m not going to be celebrating, I’m going to be thinking.”

Barrett said the experience he brought from having already served in the Senate was a factor with voters. And he said social issues also played a role, citing his support for abortion rights and Martinez’s opposition to them.

Barrett, then of Cambridge, served four terms in the Senate before leaving in 1995 following an unsuccessful bid for governor. He beat four other candidates in the Democratic primary, including Concord resident Joe Kearns Goodwin, the son of presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin and presidential adviser Richard Goodwin.

Martinez did not concede, saying the only results she had seen were three precincts in Chelmsford. “I have not seen the results of any other towns.”

Democrat Joan B. Lovely of Salem declared victory a little after 9 p.m. based on results that showed her beating Richard A. Jolitz, a Republican from Beverly, by a wide margin in the race for the seat held by Berry, the Senate majority leader, for 30 years.

It was the first open seat in decades in the district made up of Beverly, Danvers, Peabody, Salem, and Topsfield. Lovely was viewed as the favorite after winning a four-way Democratic primary .

“I feel elated. I’m absolutely so grateful for all the support,” she said. “We started this campaign back in January. We started knocking on doors in March and we put in the work. It was a real grass-roots effort. I’m just so grateful to the voters for seeing how hard I worked and how I am going to work when I get into office.”

The most heavily contested Senate race was in the Merrimack Valley, where Kathleen O’Connor Ives, a Democratic Newburyport city councilor, defeated three candidates to succeed Baddour, who resigned in April to become a partner of a private law firm.

Ives beat Shaun A. Toohey, a Republican Haverhill School Committee member, and unenrolled candidates James Kelcourse is an Amesbury city councilor, and Paul A. Magliocchetti,

Of 200 legislative seats, 75 were being contested. Twelve seats were vacant — the officeholders either left, ran for another office or withdrew. One new district was created in last year’s redistricting for residents of Lawrence and Andover.

Several races were rematches between bitter rivals including two races in the House, where incumbents were facing challenges from the candidates they defeated two years ago.
Democrats, who had hoped that high turnout would translate into victory in the legislative seats, targeted several Republicans, who had won seats in 2010 in a wave of voter dissatisfaction.

In Marlborough, former state representative Danielle W. Gregoire beat freshman Republican representative Steven L. Levy, who defeated her two years ago.

“It feels awesome. I couldn’t have done it without all the help I got,” said Gregoire. “It hasn’t sunk in yet. It’s amazing.”

Levy thanked his supporters and said he would take some time to decide what to do next.
“It was a hard fought race on both sides, and the voters have spoken,” he said. “ It’s always tough for a Republican to win in a presidential election year.”

He said he has called and congratulated Gregoire.

In Andover, Republican Representative James Lyons fought back a challenge from Barbara L’Italien, the woman he unseated in 2010. L’Italien, a Democrat, served in the House for eight years before her defeat in 2010 . After losing, she worked briefly for State Treasurer Steven Grossman. Lyons was the sole legislator to vote against the budget in 2011.