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Democrats win seats formerly held by Walsh, O’Flaherty

A pair of Democrats who ran unopposed sailed to victory on Tuesday to fill two Massachusetts House seats formerly held by Mayor Martin J. Walsh of Boston and Eugene O’Flaherty, a former state representative who wielded power on Beacon Hill and now serves as the city’s top lawyer.

According to unofficial results posted to Boston’s Election Department website, Daniel J. Hunt, a former state parks official, captured 1,559 votes cast from Boston for the 13th Suffolk District seat. Hunt, 33, will fill Walsh’s old seat in the district, which covers parts of Boston and Quincy, but the Quincy results were not immediately available Tuesday night.

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Turnout for the 13th Suffolk race and two other contests in Boston was a paltry 8.2 percent.

Hunt had bested four other contenders for the Democratic nomination during last month’s primary.

In voting for the Second Suffolk House seat — formerly held by O’Flaherty, a Democrat who cochaired the Judiciary Committee before leaving to become Walsh’s corporation counsel — Daniel Joseph Ryan collected 1,303 votes from the district in Boston, or more than 98 percent of the ballots cast there.

Like Hunt, Ryan had faced no Republican challenger. He won a three-way primary in March for the Democratic nomination. Election results for parts of Chelsea, which the district also includes, were not immediately available.

Also Tuesday, Evandro C. Carvalho, 32, won the Democratic nomination to fill the Fifth Suffolk House seat, which includes parts of Roxbury and Dorchester, capturing just over 49 percent of the 1,957 votes cast.

Carvalho, a lawyer, topped four others for the nomination. No Republicans ran in the primary. He appears poised to claim the seat in the April 29 general election, after Carlos Henriquez, a Dorchester Democrat, was ousted by the House following an assault conviction.

Meanwhile in the 16th Suffolk District, RoseLee Vincent, a Revere Democrat, picked up 1,586 votes en route to victory over Chelsea Republican Todd B. Taylor to fill a House seat vacated by Democrat Kathi-Anne Reinstein.

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“I feel exhilarated,” said Vincent, a longtime legislative aide to Reinstein and her late father, William G. Reinstein, her predecessor in the House. “I feel so grateful to the most wonderful people in the world. . . . I’m overwhelmed by the support I’ve received, especially in my home city of Revere. I am so proud to be from Revere.”

In the state Senate, Democrat Jason M. Lewis won the special election to fill the open Fifth Middlesex seat that Melrose Democrat Katherine M. Clark vacated after she was elected to Congress.

Lewis, a Winchester Democrat, collected 10,610 votes to 9,229 for Monica C. Medeiros, a Melrose Republican and alderwoman. Medeiros had the most votes in Melrose, Reading, and Wakefield, but Lewis took Malden and Winchester by more than 2-to-1 margins and also outpaced Medeiros in Stoneham.

“It feels great,” Lewis said of his win. “It was a fantastic team effort.”

The Fourth Hampden House seat was also up for grabs on Tuesday, but results were not immediately available.


Travis Andersen can be reached at travis.andersen@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @TAGlobe.