(*This story was updated at 10:28 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2024, with additional reporting.)
Swansea lawyer John Deaton is the projected winner of a three-way race for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate, putting him on course to face Democratic U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., in November.
With 1% of the ballots counted, unofficial tallies showed Deaton taking 59.9% of the vote over Quincy City Council President Ian Cain, and conservative activist Robert Antonellis of Somerville.
The Associated Press called the race for Deaton at 8:42 p.m.
Updated unofficial tallies, as of 10:30 p.m., showed Deaton with 64.4% of the vote; with Antonellis at 26.5%, and Cain trailing in third at 9.1%.
Deaton faces an uphill battle against Warren, an entrenched and well-funded incumbent, running for a third term in heavily Democratic Massachusetts.
In a statement, Deaton said he was “truly humbled” by the support from the primary electorate.
On Wednesday, ” we begin the next phase of the campaign – an effort that will hold Elizabeth Warren accountable for her failures on the border, the unaffordable cost of supporting a family, a broken healthcare system, abandoning our ally Israel, and restoring faith in our politics,” he said.
In a statement, Cain said that while he was disappointed by Tuesday’s result, “I hold my head high for the movement and progress we have made over the course of this campaign.
“This was never about a singular person, but about highlighting the failures of our current representation and pushing for a brighter future for Massachusetts. I still have hope that we can finish that job,” he continued.
“I will continue to fight for the Commonwealth each and every day. Thank you to my family, friends, and volunteers who stood with me in this fight.”
In a statement, the state Republican Party said it wanted to offer a “special congratulations” to Deaton for his primary win.
“Senator Warren has built a career on dividing people and inciting class conflict, all while voting for policies that have fueled inflation and weakened our nation,” the statewide GOP said in its statement. “We look forward to seeing Deaton hold her accountable and reveal to Massachusetts residents who Elizabeth Warren truly is.”
The Associated Press declared Warren, who was running without opposition, the winner of Tuesday’s Democratic primary contest.
The crypto-currency industry, abetted by some of the sector’s biggest names, pumped millions of dollars into the race on Deaton’s behalf, as they sought to replace Warren, an avowed critic, with a friendlier voice on Capitol Hill.
Deaton defended tech firm Ripple Inc. in a high-profile court fight with the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission.
In his memoir, “Food Stamp Warrior,” Deaton explained his support for, and interest in, cryptocurrency, saying the industry’s story is “one much like my own: it is a story of survival and evolution, not just for the few but for the many.
“The more I learned about it, the more I realized that our entire financial world sat on a precipice. This was something important,” he wrote. “A whole new world was about to be born, and the powers that be did not want us to know about it.”
Cain is the founder of Quincy-based Quincy-based QUBIC Labs.
The company says its mission is to “[bring] together people, business, government and academia to fuel a global hub for blockchain technology, development and innovation.”
While it can be used for other purposes, blockchain technology is most often employed as a record-keeping system for cryptocurrency transactions.
In a statement, Warren said she was looking forward to the fall campaign, and at least two debates with her GOP challenger.
“We’ve accepted two general election debates in Boston and Springfield because the people of Massachusetts deserve a substantive policy conversation about abortion rights, the Supreme Court, funding for Medicare and Social Security, and other issues critical to our country’s future,” Warren said in her statement. “We look forward to debating, and expect our Republican opponent to agree.”
Polling in the race was scant. But a UMass Amherst/WCVB-TV poll released in June showed the GOP hopefuls all had ground to gain among Bay State voters.
At the time, Republican primary voters had no clear favorite among the Republican aspirants, with more than two-thirds of respondents (67%) saying they were undecided, MassLive previously reported.
