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Who won the vote in Boston’s black community?

Yawu Miller
Yawu Miller is the former senior editor of the Bay State Banner. He has written for the Banner since 1988.... VIEW BIO
Who won the vote in Boston’s black community?
Attorney General Martha Coakley celebrates her victory in the Democratic Primary with U.S. Rep. Katherine Clark and Gov. Deval Patrick. (Photo: Banner photo)

Attorney General Martha Coakley secured the Democratic nomination for Governor Tuesday with 42 percent of the vote in the three-way primary race, beating Treasurer Steve Grossman by five percentage points. She will face off against Republican nominee Charlie Baker in the November 4 general election.

Coakley won Boston handily, with 26,516 votes — 47 percent of the 56,000 votes cast. Her margin of victory was much higher in the city’s predominantly black and Latino wards. In Ward 14, Coakley had 72 percent of the vote.

Also among the top vote-getters in Boston during the Tuesday primary were Suffolk County Sheriff Steve Tompkins and former City Councilor Felix D. Arroyo, running for Suffolk County Register of Probate.

Tompkins, who was appointed sheriff in January of 2013, garnered an impressive 31,080 votes in Suffolk County — which includes Boston, Chelsea, Revere and Winthrop — netting 61 percent of the votes in the three-way race for the Democratic nomination. Not bad for his first-ever campaign as a candidate.

Second place finisher Doug Bennett, who ran a spirited and sometimes bizarre campaign that featured an overabundance of hand-painted signs, garnered 23 percent of the vote. Tompkins won 20 of the 22 wards in Boston, losing the ultra-conservative, high-turnout Ward 16 in the Neponset/Cedar Grove section of Dorchester and South Boston’s Ward 7 to Bennett. In South Boston’s Ward 6, Tompkins won with 835 votes to Bennett’s 733.

Arroyo, who last served on the council in 2007, made a strong showing in Suffolk County with 27,000 votes 50 percent of the total in the four-way race. West Roxbury resident Martin Keough came in second with 9,796 votes. Now outgoing Register of Probate Patty Campatelli finished in third place with 8,051 votes.

Voters turned out at about the city average of 12 percent.

In legislative races, there were no major surprises. Veteran Rep. Gloria Fox handily beat challengers Rufus Faulk and Eric Esteves with 1026 votes — 49.5 percent of the total. Faulk had 629 votes, and Estevez 413. Rep. Dan Cullinane handily beat three challengers with 2,550 votes — 65 percent of the total. Challenger Corey Allen only managed 787 votes — 20 percent.

Sen. Sonia Chang-Diaz handily defeated perennial candidate Roy Owens, 10,881 to 2,581, (80 percent to 20 percent) despite an abundance of campaign literature from the latter.

Lastly, newly-elected Rep. Evandro Carvalho dealt perennial candidate Althea Garrison her umpteenth defeat with 1,637 votes — 65 percent of the total. Garrison’s loyal 858 voters gave her 34 percent of the total.