Franklin County native Adam Hinds easily won a three-way Democratic race for a state Senate seat in Thursday’s primary election, beating Richmond attorney Andrea Harrington and Lenox attorney Rinaldo Del Gallo with about 55 percent of the vote to their 38 and 7 percent, respectively.
He will face Republican candidate Christine M. Canning, a Lanesborough educational consultant who was unopposed on the GOP ballot, in the Nov. 8 election for the seat being vacated after 10 years by Sen. Benjamin Downing, D-Pittsfield.
The race for the Berkshire-Hampshire-Franklin-Hampden Senate seat, affecting nine western Franklin County towns in the 52-town district, was one of two on Democratic ballots here. There were no Republican contests.
Hinds captured 80 percent of the vote in Franklin County, to 16 percent for Harrington and 4 percent for Del Gallo.
In the only other race, former Springfield Mayor Mary Hurley, a retired district court judge, defeated Hampshire County Bar Association President Jeff Morneau, 59 percent to 41 percent, for Governor’s Council, Eighth District. There is no Republican opponent.
The state Senate district includes Ashfield, Buckland, Charlemont, Conway, Hawley, Heath, Monroe, Rowe and Shelburne, where Hinds defeated Harrington and Del Gallo.
“It feels great,” said Hinds, speaking from a Pittsfield hotel party, “like we have a message that resonated for working families and making sure that schools have the funding they need and making sure we can make the transition to green energy. So we’re happy. It’s been a lot of work, and now on to the general election.”
Hinds, 40, the executive director of Northern Berkshire Community Coalition in North Adams, is a graduate of Mohawk Trail Regional High School, Wesleyan University and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. He touted nearly 10 years of negotiations experience working for the United Nations in Iraq, Syria and Jerusalem as a strength he would bring to the post.
Over the past year, he has led the coalition to provide family and child-support services and engage residents, organizations and officials in responding to issues such as health-care access and fighting heroin addiction. He has also administered a Pittsfield gang-prevention program targeting at-risk youth.
Hinds worked on U.S. Rep. John W. Olver’s election campaigns and on John Kerry’s presidential campaign. This is his first campaign for elected office, as it was for Harrington.
Harrington, who grew up in Berkshire County, campaigned as a strong advocate for struggling workers and their families to bring better educational and work opportunities to the district.
Hinds said the win was “also a signal that we can do politics differently here and be focused on bringing people together to get things done, and making sure we keep it positive. That will be incredibly important going into the general election, with the national contest.”
Harrington, who conceded defeat by 9 p.m., said, “I think we ran a great race. It was a tough race. We didn’t know what to think going in, but we were getting a lot of really positive feedback. But it was really competitive.”
Harrington said she’s interested in pursuing politics in the future.
“I loved talking about the big issues and thinking and working on how to improve our economy, because that’s what I see happening in my cases: people struggling to afford to basics and support their families.”
Del Gallo, a spokesman for the Berkshire Fatherhood Coalition who cited his work on banning plastic bags and Styrofoam in Pittsfield and other Berkshire County communities, referred to himself as a “Bernie Sanders progressive candidate.”
Within 90 minutes of the polls closing, with more than 50 percent of the district’s towns and cities reporting, Del Gallo said, “I was hoping to make it to 10 (percent). It was a very tough thing to do. We kind of knew by the end of June that I had no chance at all. It took a lot of guts to do what I did. I definitely moved the conversation to the left.”
You can reach Richie Davis at rdavis@recorder.com
or 413-772-0261, ext. 269