Mara Dolan, a public defender and former political consultant, topped 25-year-incumbent Marilyn M. Petitto Devaney in one of several closely watched Democratic primaries for a seat on the Massachusetts Governor’s Council, the obscure panel responsible for approving gubernatorial appointments.
Dolan topped Devaney, 52 percent to 48 percent, in a rematch of their Third District primary, according to an Associated Press tally. In the Fourth District, Christopher A. Iannella, a Jamaica Plain Democrat and the council’s longest-serving current member, held off two primary challengers of his own to capture his 20th term on the council, the AP projected.
No Republican had qualified for the GOP ballot in either district, virtually ensuring Dolan and Iannella will win spots on the council, a long-ignored, sometimes ridiculed body that vets judicial nominees and pardon proposals.
In a crowded race for an open Second District seat, Tamisha Civil, a probation officer from Stoughton and daughter of Haitian immigrants, topped three other Democratic opponents in her bid to become the first woman of color to ever serve on the council. Civil, 43, will face Republican Francis T. Crimmins, a retired judge and former municipal official, in November’s general election.
The races stood out on a Democratic ballot with little competition elsewhere. The council has proven a hotbed for political activity, drawing anywhere from two to seven competitive Democratic primaries for its eight seats every year since 2012. This year, three primaries, including one for the Second District’s open seat, drew multiple candidates — the most since 2018.
Every seat on the current council is held by a Democrat.
The rematch between Dolan, of Concord, and Devaney, of Watertown, was the most heated.
They have attacked each other’s records and have accused each other of lying, including two years ago, when Devaney had prevailed by fewer than 1,700 votes among the 119,000 cast. Dolan then vowed to challenge her again, and this time ran with a swell of support from other Democratic leaders, including US Representatives Katherine Clark, Ayanna Pressley, Lori Trahan, and Seth Moulton, and four sitting members of the Governor’s Council.
Dolan, 61, this time launched her campaign nearly a year ahead of the November election, offering her campaign a long runway against Devaney, who had previously beaten back 11 primary challengers since first taking office in 1999.
“When I started running 2 ½ years ago [in the first challenge], I had people say that no one would care and no one would pay attention. I knew that wasn’t true. But I had no idea it would get this much attention,” Dolan said of the race.
“It’s definitely a new era for the Governor’s Council with new people and new perspectives,” she said.
Devaney, 85, said Wednesday that her push for changes on the council, including continuing to livestream its meetings and hearings, didn’t make her “popular” with her fellow councilors, some of whom she clashed with publicly and repeatedly over other issues. Current Councilors Eileen R. Duff, Paul M. DePalo, Joseph C. Ferreira, and Terrence W. Kennedy all backed Dolan.
“I’m going out proud,” Devaney said after a council meeting at the State House. “I try to have openness, and that’s what I’ve done. So no good deed goes unpunished. But you know what? I made it better, and that’s what I’m going out thinking: My reforms made this council better than when I came in.”
In the Fourth District, which includes parts of Boston and the South Shore, Iannella captured nearly 57 percent of the vote on Tuesday, fending off Stacey Borden, a Dorchester Democrat and the founder of New Beginnings Reentry Services, and Quincy Democrat Ron Iacobucci, executive director of the city’s Workforce Development Department.
Borden, too, was vying to become the first woman of color on the council, which has roots in the Colonial era, and the first person of color on the panel in more than three decades.
Iannella said voters “rewarded me for the work I’ve done.” By the end of his current term, he will have served 38 of the last 40 years on the council.
“As long as my health continues to be great, I’ll keep running,” Iannella, 71, said. “I’m a lawyer, and people will ask, ‘You gonna retire?’ What am I going to do? You know, how often can you play golf? So I’m not the retired-type person.”
Civil emerged from a four-way primary for the vacant seat in the Second District, which stretches southwest of Boston from Milton to Attleboro. The Stoughton Democrat has said she was motivated to run by the experience of her cousin, James Lucien, who spent nearly 27 years in prison before his murder conviction was tossed in 2021 because the trial was marred by police misconduct and perjury.
She won 39 percent of the vote, outdistancing fellow Democrats Sean Murphy and Muriel Kramer, who each won 22 percent, and David Reservitz, who won 17 percent, according to the AP.
“A lot of people are fed up with the injustices [in the judicial system] and they want someone with my experience who can bring transparency and bring integrity to the council,” Civil said Wednesday. “For 244 years, not having a woman of color on the council speaks volumes as to what we need to do in order to make sure the injustices that are happening are changed.”
Civil will face Crimmins, who served for 18 years as a judge, including at the district and appellate court levels. He later served as Stoughton’s town manager for two years before working as Avon’s town administrator.
The matchup is one of four on the November ballot. There’s also a three-way race for an open seat in the North Shore-anchored Fifth District between former Methuen city councilor Eunice Zeigler, a Democrat and daughter of Haitian immigrants; Republican Anne Manning-Martin; and Jody Elliott, an independent candidate.
In the Seventh District, DePalo faces a Republican challenger in Andrew Couture, a Fitchburg city councilor, while Ferreira, the incumbent in the First District, faces a challenge from Wareham’s Krysten Condon, an independent candidate.
Matt Stout can be reached at matt.stout@globe.com. Follow him @mattpstout.