Rayla Campbell needs a significant number of write-in votes in the Republican primary next week for Massachusetts’s Seventh Congressional District.
At least 2,000, to be exact.
Campbell is running as a sticker/write-in candidate in the race. That means she needs people to either put a sticker on their Republican ballots that has her name and address or for them to write in “Rayla Campbell” and “Randolph, Mass.,” designating her name and hometown. If enough voters do that and fill in the bubble next to the write-in space, then she will make the general election ballot this November to run against U.S. Representative Ayanna Pressley (D-Dorchester), one of the four first-term members of Congress who make up “The Squad.”
Campbell sees the challenge and says she is ready for it. She told New Boston Post at a campaign event in Randolph on Wednesday afternoon that nearly 1,000 people have already requested stickers from the campaign — and that campaign volunteers plan to give out plenty more on election day.
“I’ve had people that’ve actually written me in already,” she said. “It’s been tremendous and I couldn’t be happier with the outpouring of support. It’s incredible.”
Campbell said the biggest challenge will be covering as many parts of the district as possible. It includes north-of-Boston cities like Somerville, Chelsea, and Everett as well as much of Boston and goes as far south as Randolph.
“We need to make sure that we have enough volunteers out there to make sure that when people get to the polls, they know what to do. I think a lot of people know what to do because we put directions on my web site and Facebook page,” Campbell said.
“We’re going to focus on the busiest poll places, but we’re going to do as many as we can.”
Since there are not a ton of contested Republican races going on in the state on the upcoming primary day, Campbell said that she has had Republicans from across the state reach out to her to see what they can do to help on Tuesday, September 1. She said she’s grateful for the support and happy to take the help.
“If you can stand out at the polls, that would be great,” she said. “If you’re able to bounce to another spot, you can definitely do that. Feel free to reach out to me.
“I also really need people to contact me through my web site, Raylaforcongress.com,” she continued. “They can put their address in to request their sticker and we can bring it directly to them. We’re gonna have people at the polls but for those voting early, please let us know and we’ll get you a sticker.”
As for what she plans to do on election day, Campbell said she will keep track of everything that’s going on and likely hold an event later in the day in Randolph.
“I think we’re just gonna be watching and praying,” she said. “We’re gonna have a watch party. Everybody’s been inviting me everywhere, but I think I want to stay in my home district. The support from my town residents has been amazing.”
Massachusetts Seventh Congressional District, courtesy of Wikipedia.
Massachusetts Seventh Congressional District — known a the ‘Minority-Majority District.’ Source: Massachusetts Legislature web site
city of Cambridge (Wards 1, 2, and 3; Ward 4, Precinct 1; Ward 5; Ward 10, Precinct 3; Ward 11) (which includes East Cambridge and parts of North Cambridge)
cities of Everett and Somerville
Norfolk County:
town of Milton (Precincts 1, 5, and 10); town of Randolph
Suffolk County:
city of Chelsea
city of Boston (Wards 1 and 2; Ward 3, Precincts 7, 8; Ward 4; Ward 5, Precincts 1, 2, 2A, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10; Ward 7, Precinct 10; Wards 8, 9, and 10; Ward 11, Precincts 1–8; Ward 12; Ward 13, Precincts 1, 2, 4–6, 8, 9; Wards 14 and 15; Ward 16, Precincts 1, 3, 4, 6, 8, 11; Wards 17 and 18; Ward 19, Precincts 7, 10–13; Ward 20, Precinct 3; Wards 21 and 22);
