By BOB TUROSZ
NORTH READING — The state party primary elections will be held next Tuesday, Sept. 9, with polls open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. All voters will cast ballots in the parish hall of St. Theresa Church at 51 Winter St., Route 62. All voters registered as Democrat, Republican or Unenrolled by Aug. 20 are eligible to vote. Unenrolled voters may choose either ballot and will automatically revert back to unenrolled status following the election.
Absentee ballots are available at the Town Clerk’s office for qualified voters and the deadline to apply for an absentee ballot is Monday, Sept. 8 at noon. Voters should be aware that some streets have changed precincts due to the 2010 Federal Census re–districting but all precincts vote at St. Theresa anyway.
North Reading has 10,907 registered voters eligible to cast ballots on Sept. 9.
As is often the case, the Democratic ballot is a much more crowded affair than over on the Republican side.
The Democrats have 23 candidates running for 13 offices on the ballot. The largest group is in the Sixth District Congressional race, where incumbent John F. Tierney of Salem faces four challengers in the primary for the party nomination. Tierney, an 18–year veteran of Capitol Hill, is seeking to stave off challenges from Marisa DeFranco of Middleton, an immigration attorney who ran for the U.S. Senate in 2012, Seth Moulton of Salem, a Marine Corps Iraq war veteran and businessman, John Patrick Devine of Woburn and John J. Gutta of Groveland.
Next in number but probably topping the ballot in terms of voter interest are the three candidates for the party’s nomination for governor to succeed Deval Patrick, who is not seeking a third term. Martha Coakley of Medford, the sitting attorney general and Steven Grossman of Newton, the incumbent state treasurer, are in the race with Donald M. Berwick of Newton, a former administrator for Medicare and Medicaid.
There are also three candidates running for lieutenant governor and three running for treasurer.
The lieutenant governor candidates are Leland Cheung of Cambridge, Stephen Kerrigan of Lancaster and Michael E. Lake of Boston.
The candidates for treasurer are Thomas P. Conroy of Wayland, Barry Finegold of Andover and Deborah Goldberg of Brookline.
There’s also a competitive race for the nomination for attorney general. There, Maura Healey of Boston, a former assistant attorney general, is running against former state senator Warren Tolman of Watertown.
Another competitive race is for the party nomination for Middlesex District Attorney. Marian Ryan of Belmont, the current D.A., faces a challenge from Michael A. Sullivan of Cambridge, a former assistant district attorney.
The rest of the Democratic candidates on the ballot are unopposed in their respective primary races. Edward Markey has no party primary challenger for U.S. Senator. William Galvin has a clear field to the nomination for Secretary of State. Governor’s Councillor Eileen Duff of Gloucester has a free pass for re–nomination. Suzanne Bump is unopposed for re–nomination for state auditor and Tara E. DeCristofaro has no worries as she seeks re–nomination for register of probate.
There are no Democratic candidates for state representative or state senator.
Republican ballot
It’s quite a different story on the Republican ballot, where there are 13 candidates for the 13 offices and the only race is for the nomination for governor.
For governor, Charles Baker of Swampscott, who unsuccessfully ran four years ago against Deval Patrick, faces a challenge from Mark Fisher of Shrewsbury, a small business owner affiliated with the Tea Party movement.
North Reading’s State Rep. Brad Jones Jr. is unopposed for re–nomination, as is Senator Bruce Tarr of Gloucester.
All of the following candidates are likewise unopposed: Brian J. Herr of Hopkinton for U.S. Senator, Karyn E. Polito of Shrewsbury for lieutenant governor; John B. Miller of Winchester for attorney general, David D’Arcangelo of Malden for secretary of state, Michael James Heffernan of Wellesley for treasurer, Patricia Saint Aubin of Norfolk for auditor, Maura Ryan–Ciardiello of Haverhill for governor’s councillor and John W. Lambert Sr. of Natick for register of probate.
Richard Tisei of Wakefield is unopposed for his party’s nomination for Congress in the Sixth District and will face the winner of the five–way Democratic tilt in November. Two years ago, Tisei narrowly lost the election to Tierney.
The Republicans are fielding no candidates for district attorney and auditor.
