Provost wins primary
By George P. Hassett and Catherine Rogers

   Denise Provost captured Tuesday‚Äôs Democratic Primary for the 27th Middlesex state rep. district by a landslide. According to unofficial totals from the city‚Äôs Elections Commission, Provost won 62 percent of the vote against former Planning Board member Elizabeth Moroney‚Äôs 37 percent.
   Provost, an alderman-at-large in the city, does not have any opposition in the Feb. 7 General Election. Thus, she is expected to succeed Patricia D. Jehlen, D-Somerville, who vacated the seat after being elected to the senate in September, as the 27th Middlesex state rep. The district is the only all Somerville seat in the state legislature and encompasses all of Wards 3, 5 and 6, as well as Ward 2, Precinct 3 and Ward 4, Precinct 3.

   Jehlen endorsed Provost before the election and said the new state rep. is a worthy heir.
   ‚ÄúShe is great at constituent services. She will be wonderful, but she will have to adjust to having a staff and an office,‚Äù said Jehlen.
    Provost said she will meet with the four other Somerville delegates ‚Äì Jehlen, Carl M. Sciortino, Timothy J. Toomey Jr., and Jarrett T. Barrios to discuss how to best work as a team in securing improved state services.
    Working as an advocate for all of Somerville is most important, said Provost.
    ‚ÄúI want to represent all the constituents ‚Äì the ones who voted for me, the ones who didn‚Äôt and even the ones who burned my yard signs,‚Äù she said.
     Provost invoked her Democratic ideals when speaking at her celebration party inside Davis Square‚Äôs Sauce restaurant.
    ‚ÄúDemocrats believe if you lift society up from the bottom, everybody rises. And we have a lot to raise up in Somerville because we have been pushed down,‚Äù she said.

     Moroney resigned from both the Planning Board and as Chief of Staff for Sen. Pam Resor, D-Acton, to focus on her campaign. She offered her congratulations to Provost at Sauce.
    ‚ÄúObviously I would have liked the results to be different but Denise did a great job and I congratulate her for it,‚Äù said Moroney.
     Provost first ran for office in Somerville in 1993 when she ran unsuccessfully for Ward 5 alderman. She ran again in 1995 but did not win office until she was elected as alderman-at-large in 1999.
     In the 2005 municipal elections, Provost was the top vote getter in the city. She won Tuesday night because of her dedication to the people of Somerville, said Dudley Hartung.
     ‚ÄúI‚Äôve always found that Denise has always worked on the side of the people, versus the so-called interests,‚Äù he said.