ORANGE — The woman who has twice sought the Democratic nomination to the North Quabbin seat in the Legislature won’t challenge the Republican incumbent despite primary election winner Denise Andrews’ unexpected withdrawal from the race.
Genevieve Fraser of Orange said she has, for the second time, left the Democratic Party in protest and will support Republican Susannah Whipps Lee of Athol in the Nov. 8 election.
Fraser said she was asked to take the place of Andrews, a liberal Democrat from Orange, who announced her withdrawal from the race to take a private sector job on Sunday, three days after securing the party’s nomination. Instead, Fraser, who declined to say who approached her to run, said she is backing Whipps Lee. The one-term legislator, she said, “has been trying to represent the needs of her constituents” and was “quite wonderful” in her support of area residents opposed to the natural gas pipeline proposed and since abandoned by Kinder Morgan.
“She is a proven commodity,” Fraser said of Whipps Lee.
Fraser also said she refuses to run against Whipps Lee because doing so would mean re-enrolling as a Democrat, which she does not want to do since, she said, the Democratic National Committee requires all party candidates to support the entire Democratic ticket, including Hillary Clinton for president. Fraser said she opposes Clinton for various reasons, including the former Secretary of State’s prior stances on war and natural gas hydraulic fracturing, also known as fracking.
Fraser said she also decided to leave the party due to what she feels was malicious treatment of former presidential candidate Bernie Sanders by the DNC.
JR Greene, chairman of the Athol Democratic Town Committee, said the state Democratic Committee planned to hold telephone conferences with area town committees to determine if there were any registered Democrats willing to replace Andrews on the ticket. He believes today is the final day for a candidate to get onto the ballot.
Fraser said she ran against Andrews as an independent in 2010 and quickly learned they differ on some key issues, including biomass, which Fraser passionately supports.
“I am very pro; (Andrews) is very against,” she said. “Biomass is, in my opinion, one of the solutions. Biomass is a renewable.”
Fraser also lost to Andrews in the 2012 Democratic primary.
Fraser said she believes Andrews’ decision was wise.
“I wish her well because I want her to thrive,” she said. “I don’t dislike her personally.”
Fraser also said she suspects someone will run in Andrews’ place.
“It’s too delicious an opportunity, but I ain’t that lady,” she said with a slight laugh. “I will not do what I consider to be unethical.”
You can reach Domenic Poli at: dpoli@recorder.com or 413-772-0261, ext. 258
On Twitter: @DomenicPoli