Voters went for Will Mbah in the Democratic primary on Tuesday to fill the state representative seat held by Christine Barber since 2015, according to unofficial election results. Mbah beat Christopher Oates and Paul Ruseau for the seat, which Barber is vacating to run for a 2nd Middlesex state Senate seat.
The district includes parts of Somerville and Medford, and with no known Republican or third-party candidates named for November’s general election, it’s likely that the primary decides the race.
There were 16,938 ballots cast in Somerville out of 54,377 registered voters, for 31 percent turnout. Mbah won 2,346 votes, or 65 percent of the total in Somerville; Oates got 709 votes, or 20 percent; and Ruseau was favored by 583 voters in Somerville, or 16 percent.
Ruseau called Mbah to concede at around 9:18 p.m., according to The Tufts Daily.
Though Mbah has the most direct legislative experience as a Somerville city councilor who has given testimony to committees on Beacon Hill, Somerville resident Oates had a polished campaign as an Oxford-educated political risk analyst who worked on 2018’s ranked-choice voting ballot question; and Paul Ruseau had a powerful story as a Medford School Committee member, and proposed ideas his opponents acknowledged as exciting.
At first, Mbah said, he expected to finish out his council term before turning his full focus to the Legislature. That’s no longer his plan.
“Just to respect the city of Medford and the city of Somerville, I think it is in my interest to resign so that I can fully focus on both districts and serve them with the skills and abilities that I’ve been entrusted with,” Mbah said at an Aug. 1 forum. Based on election results in 2025, he is likely to be replaced by labor leader and former mayoral candidate Marianne Walles, Tufts reporters said.
