On December 1st, Ryan Fattman filed papers with the Secretary of State's Office of Campaign and Political Finance to form The Committee to Elect Ryan Fattman for State Representative in the 18th Worcester District. Ryan Fattman currently serves as a two term Selectman from Sutton.
The district is currently represented by Democrat Jennifer Callahan. The 18th Worcester district consists of the town of Bellingham, in the county of Norfolk; and precincts 1, 2 and 4, of the town of Uxbridge, precincts 1 and 2, of the town of Sutton, and the towns of Blackstone and Millville, all in the county of Worcester.
In 2002, Callahan won election with just 44.5% of the vote in a 3 way race over Republican Peter Amorello (28.5%) and Unenrolled Robert Badzmierowski (27.0%).
In 2004, Callahan defeated Republican David Funnell by a 73% to 27% margin. In 2006 and 2008 she was unopposed.
The overall district profile is very favorable to a Republican Candidate. In 2008, McCain won the towns of Millville (50% to 48%) and Sutton (52% to 45%) outright. In the other 3 towns, Obama had a high water mark of 53% equaling his national average. The 18th Worcester is not just a good district by Massachusetts standards, but is officially an "R+" district nationally.
Sutton: McCain 52% to 45%
Millville: McCain 50% to 48%
Bellingham: Obama 52% to 46%
Uxbridge: Obama 49% to 49%
Blackstone: Obama 53% to 45%
Jennifer Callahan may be best remembered for voting against Sal Dimasi for Speaker earlier this year. Yvonne Abraham wrote in the Boston Globe:
Instead, I want to pay tribute to a tiny group of Democrats you must envy these days. They're the seven who said no to Sal: Representatives Cory Atkins, Jennifer Callahan, Thomas Calter, Stephen Canessa, John Quinn, Thomas Stanley, and David Torrisi. All of them had backed DiMasi in the past, but they refused to hold their noses and vote yes in January, even though they knew it could cost them dearly. They thought backing DiMasi would bring the entire House into disrepute. They were right.
