Meet the candidates: Congressional primaries in Massachusetts today

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(For a full list of candidates, see the Massachusetts portal.)

By Congresspedia assistant editor Avelino Maestas

In the scheme of America politics, states don’t come much bluer than Massachusetts. With a Senate race and ten House contests on the November ballot, only five Republicans are running, and there are no contested GOP primaries. In fact, there are only two contested races during today’s primary election.

Sen. John Kerry (D) is virtually assured of being re-elected in November, but he does face a primary challenger this year. Attorney Ed O'Reilly has launched a long-shot bid to challenge the six-term incumbent, who received 22% of the vote during a state party convention to determine who gets on the Democratic primary ballot.

In the state’s 1st congressional district, Rep. John Olver (D) also faces a primary challenger: Robert Feuer (D). Olver was a long-time state lawmaker before he won a special election to Congress in 1991. Feuer is a Coast Guard veteran who now has a law practice in Stockbridge. Olver is expected to win the primary.

As part of our Wiki the Vote project, our citizen-editors have been tracking all the races and building profiles of many of the candidates. We’ll have more on the winners Wednesday (including the challengers' occupations), so stay tuned then. In the meantime, if you know something about any of the races listed above, or any race in the country, please post it for your fellow citizens to read: Find your state at the Wiki The Vote homepage, select a candidate or incumbent and click "edit." It’s easy, and you can always ask one of our staff editors for help.