This story was updated on Thursday, Sept. 8.
PROVINCETOWN — By a margin of eight to one, eight-term incumbent state Rep. Sarah Peake defeated Jack Stanton, her first challenger for the Democratic Party nomination in 16 years, in Tuesday’s primary election.
The final tally was 7,991 votes for Peake, almost 89 percent of the total, and 1,028 for Stanton in the seven towns of the 4th Barnstable District: Provincetown, Truro, Wellfleet, Eastham, Orleans, Harwich, and Chatham. Peake’s best showing was in Orleans, where she won 93 percent of the vote, while Stanton’s best was in Harwich, where he carried 14 percent.
Peake campaigned on her understanding of the district’s complex needs and the relationships she has built on Beacon Hill. She is the second assistant majority leader in the House, which means she ranks fourth in the Democratic leadership there.
Stanton campaigned as an outsider who understood real life on Cape Cod and who would push for much more sweeping legislation than Peake was willing to support. Stanton had carried 43 percent of the vote in a 2018 general election campaign against Republican state Rep. Randy Hunt in a seat that includes his hometown of Sandwich. He won about 10 percent of the votes in his campaign against Peake.
Peake will be running unopposed in the general election this November, as no Republican has filed to run in the 4th Barnstable District since 2010.
“I am incredibly grateful to the people of the 4th Barnstable District for this resounding win,” said Peake on Tuesday night. “I’m excited to know that tomorrow when I wake up I can continue to work hard on their behalf.”
“I got into this race to make sure the issues plaguing our community, especially housing and climate change, were at the center of the conversation, and I feel that’s what I’ve done,” said Stanton. “It is my hope that Sarah will carry this urgency back with her to the state house.”
In the Republican primary for the Cape and Islands state Senate seat, Chris Lauzon defeated Daralyn Heywood by a margin of 60 to 40 percent. The vote totals were 7,332 for Lauzon and 4,940 for Heywood.
Lauzon told the Independent in the spring that he wanted to lower taxes and eliminate regulations he deemed harmful, but that he could work with Democrats on certain issues. He identified himself as neither a “Baker Republican” nor a “Trump Republican” but as a “Cape Cod Republican.”
Heywood told the Independent that Democrats were “going towards communism” and that her experience as a barracks commander in the state police showed her leadership ability and her commitment to protecting people’s rights. She identified herself with Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton.
Although Heywood narrowly carried the primary vote on Nantucket, which was one of the first towns to report on Tuesday night, she began falling behind as the larger towns of the mid-Cape posted their results. Lauzon carried Yarmouth with 61 percent of the vote and Dennis with 66 percent.
Lauzon will face Democratic state Sen. Julian Cyr, who was first elected to the seat in 2016. Cyr won 57 percent of the vote in that year’s general election and 62 percent in the 2018 general election, and was unopposed in the 2020 general election.
