One of the bitterest Berkshire County elections in recent memory will be decided tomorrow.
If she wants to become the next Berkshire District Attorney, Andrea Harrington will have to beat DA Paul Caccaviello for the second time in two months. Harrington narrowly won the Democratic primary in September, and now faces a write-in effort by Caccaviello.
“The support’s been amazing, I feel very confident – but of course, the unknown variable in this race is the ‘write-in process,’” said the DA.
Caccaviello, who took over for longtime DA David Capeless in March, has pegged his last hope to remain in the seat on an independent write-in campaign. Because he isn’t on the ballot, voters will have to make sure their decision to choose the DA over Harrington is clear to election officials.
“The last several days I’ve received feedback from some town officials and voters for what is acceptable voter intent,” said Caccaviello.
While his campaign materials – ranging from lawn signs and billboards to newspaper ads and business cards – might be ubiquitous, Caccaviello’s 11-letter last name is a concern.
“Some communities will not accept simply ‘Paul C.,’" said Caccaviello. "Therefore, I’m urging all voters to do their best with it by attempting to spell my last name correctly. It would be a shame to have to challenge the result after the election based on voter intent.”
“I am very optimistic that we’re going to have a clear victory and that we’re going to know that I’m the winner on Tuesday night," said Andrea Harrington.
Unlike in the three-way primary, Harrington faces Caccaviello head-to-head in the general. As the Democratic nominee, she’s received endorsement from fellow party members like Senator Elizabeth Warren, Attorney General Maura Healey, Congressman Richard Neal and more.
Caccaviello is banking on keeping the support he earned in the primary, and now has the backing of former primary opponent Judith Knight and some county Republicans.
Harrington tells WAMC she isn’t concerned about facing Caccaviello again even with new groups in play.
“I see myself getting support from across the political spectrum," said the Democratic primary winner. "Criminal justice reform is something that has been embraced by conservatives and progressives alike, so I’m not particularly interested or concerned in parsing the electorate in that way.”
Harrington definitively carried North and South County in the primary, and says she’s confident in her campaign’s ground game.
“The way that we judge the strength of our team is the fact that I can have multiple campaign events in Great Barrington, in Pittsfield, up in North County, all at the same time because we have people that are working really hard in every single community here in Berkshire County,” she told WAMC.
Caccaviello says his campaign learned from the primary loss.
“Yeah, we definitely were down in South County, and we obviously were up North — but we did not ignore any part of the county,” said the DA.
Polls open at 7 a.m.
