Two incumbent Massachusetts mayors beat back challengers and a town rejected recreational marijuana businesses in municipal primaries held Tuesday, while a crowded field in a special election in the Bristol-Norfolk Senate district was narrowed, according to unofficial election results.
A Foxborough Democrat and an Attleboro Republican won their respective primaries Tuesday in the race to fill a Bristol and Norfolk state Senate seat, according to unofficial election results.
On the Democratic side, Paul R. Feeney, a former Foxborough selectman, defeated Sharon resident Edward R. “Ted’’ Philips.
For the GOP, Jacob J. Ventura was the winner in a four-way contest that included three candidates from Walpole: Michael C. Berry, Harry C. Brousaides, and Tim Hempton.
Feeney and Ventura will now face off against Joe Shortsleeve, a former WBZ reporter who lives in Medfield, in the Oct. 17 election.
Since announcing his candidacy, Shortsleeve changed his designation from Democrat to independent, but has said if elected he would join the Senate Democratic caucus.
Those three are vying for a seat vacated by Walpole Democrat James E. Timilty, who is taking over the job of Norfolk County treasurer.
Ventura, an attorney, said the primary was hard-fought and condensed because of the nature of the special election. In the general election, he said, voters will see a stark contrast between himself and Feeney.
“People are fed up with how state government is being run from a fiscal standpoint,’’ he said.
Massachusetts Republican Party chairman Kirsten Hughes said her organization was proud to support Ventura, whom she said would be a “champion for taxpayers.’’
Brousaides, one of Ventura’s GOP opponents, congratulated him on his victory.
“I think Jacob Ventura is a fine candidate and he will make a great state senator and he will represent our district the way it should be represented,’’ he said.
Calls to the other GOP contenders were not immediately returned.
The Massachusetts Democratic Party chairman Gus Bickford in a statement praised Feeney, the Democratic primary winner, calling him “a strong progressive champion for the working families and residents of Massachusetts.’’
Feeney and Philips could not be reached for comment.
Citing Feeney’s support of Bernie Sanders and calling Ventura “very, very conservative,’’ Shortsleeve said, “It looks like there’s a big highway in the middle for someone who is independent.’’
Elsewhere, incumbent mayors in Brockton and Somerville rolled up large margins of victory in their preliminary contests.
Brockton Mayor William Carpenter topped a three-way race, receiving 2,253 votes. He will face second-place finisher Jimmy L. Pereira, who received 775 votes, according to the city’s election commission.
Somerville Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone received 58 percent of the ballots cast in that city, compared to 35 percent for Payton Corbet, who placed second in the three-way race, according to election results posted on the city’s website.
Exact vote totals for the race were not posted on the website.
In Attleboro, incumbent Mayor Kevin Dumas placed second to challenger Paul Heroux in that primary, the Sun Chronicle reported.
The Globe could not independently verify the results. Multiple messages left with the Attleboro city clerk’s office were not returned Tuesday night.
In Milford, residents voted to ban recreational marijuana businesses, by a 56 percent majority, according to unofficial results provided by the town clerk’s office.
“We’re thrilled,’’ said Geri Eddins, a spokeswoman for Milford CARES, a registered ballot question committee that supported the initiative. “We’re absolutely thrilled.’’
Milford Board of Selectmen chairman William Kingkade said the initiative would now go to Town Meeting, where it would need to be ratified by a two-thirds vote in order to take effect as a town bylaw.
Bryan Cole, a leader of Milford Citizens for Fairness, which opposed the ban, said in an e-mail the group was disappointed by the outcome of the referendum.
“The group behind this ballot did everything they could to quickly and quietly push this vote through, and the process was never fair or transparent,’’ he said in a statement.
Globe correspondent Adam Sennott and Frank Phillips and Dan Adams of Globe Staff contributed to this report. Danny McDonald can be reached at daniel.mcdonald@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @Danny__McDonald.
