Ryan Takes Seat from Chelsea, Bests Avellaneda

Charlestown’s Dan Ryan cruised to victory Tuesday in the 2nd Suffolk District state representative Primary Election – besting

Dan Ryan

Dan Ryan

Chelsea’s Roy Avellaneda by more than 1,100 votes.

Because there is no Republican running on the other side of the ballot, Ryan automatically wins the General Election on April 1, which essentially made Tuesday night the real battle.

While Avellaneda campaigned hard in Charlestown, the votes essentially came down to Chelsea versus Charlestown – with the largest turnout in either locale determining the final winner.

The third candidate, Chris Remmes of Charlestown, ended up being a near non-factor – surprising many due to his active campaign and large organization.

The final districtwide numbers were as follows:

•Dan Ryan, 2,290

•Roy Avellaneda, 1,160

•Chris Remmes, 438

Avellaneda had made a push to get 2,000 votes out of Chelsea, though in the end even reaching that number wouldn’t have propelled him to victory.

Despite an active campaign in his hometown, Avellaneda got only 1,038 votes in Chelsea on a 13 percent turnout. The largest turnout appeared to be coming from Admiral’s Hill in Chelsea – where more than 300 votes were logged.

Ryan got 219 votes in Chelsea – perhaps helped by endorsements from City Council President Matt Frank.

Conversely, Avellaneda got 122 votes in Charlestown – a number that his campaign hoped would be much higher.

Remmes ended with 359 votes in Charlestown and 79 in Chelsea.

“Given the shortness of the campaign and the brutal weather conditions, we knew we had our work cut out for us,” said Avellaneda. “We did the best we could to turn out the Chelsea vote. We just came up short this time. I am very proud of my team and our volunteers and what we accomplished in this month-long campaign. I love this town and its people; we are very resilient. I congrulate Dan Ryan on his hard-fought victory and look forward to working with him on the issues that affect the district.”

In the end, it was a short race that was all about identifying and getting out voters, and in this day and age, Charlestown appears to have more of that crowd than Chelsea.

Ryan will appear as the only candidate on the ballot in the April 1 General Election.

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