Selvaggi Wins 8th District Congressional Primary

Joseph Selvaggi will challenge U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch in November after defeating Republican opponent Matt Temperley during a hotly contested 8th Congressional race that culminated on Thursday in the State Primary election.

Selvaggi took 59 percent of the District's vote compared to Temperley who received 41 percent, according to preliminary election results from Boston.com.

In Braintree, Selvaggi received 54 percent of the vote, compared to Temperley's 46 percent.

"I'm thrilled with the results," Selvaggi said. "I could not have done it without the hard work of the people from the cold phase of getting nominations and signatures to those people who have held signs for me."

Selvaggi said he believes Lynch is not doing a sufficient job as Congressman and believes he can unseat him in November

“I have met Congressman Lynch and I like his story of working his way up form very humble start. … However, as our representative in Congress, there is no doubt that Congressman Lynch is part of the old guard political machine,” Selvaggi said earlier this week. “He has been in Congress since 2001 and has not had a single bill that he has directly sponsored become law.”

The General Election is on Nov. 6, 2012, with polling locations open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Voters must register for that election by Wednesday, Oct. 17. For more information, go to http://www.sec.state.ma.us/ele/eleifv/howreg.htm.