Two Primaries On Tap In GA Races

The signatures have been counted, the candidates are decided, and for East Greenwich voters, anyway, there two primaries to be waged for the three General Assembly seats apportioned to our town.

The obvious race up for grabs is for House District 30, the seat long held by Bob Watson, who announced he would not seek re-election in June. Five candidates have submitted enough signatures to be on the ballot – three of them are Republicans, so there will be a primary in the Republican race on Sept. 11.

will have to battle it out in the primary. Bolton has run twice before for the seat, first as a Republican, then two years ago as an independent. Fachon and Giarrusso are newcomers to the political scene. Fachon is the GOP-endorsed candidate.

The Republican who triumphs in the primary will go on to face .

East Greenwich is divided into two state Senate districts: District 33, which is primarily in Coventry but includes the western part of EG, and District 35, which is primarily in North Kingstown but includes most of EG as well as part of Narragansett.

In the District 33 race, two Democrats are vying to unseat incumbent Glen Shibley, a Republican. One of those Democrats, Leo Raptakis of Coventry, held the District 33 seat since 1996, but gave it up two years ago to run for Secretary of State. He lost in a primary race to A. Ralph Mollis, the current Secretary of State. Dave Gorman, the other Democrat, is the endorsed candidate.

That race has already heated up, with Raptakis raising the issue of Gorman's landscaping company owing back taxes.

Republican Glenford Shibley, the incumbent, won the seat in 2010.

The race for Senate District 35 will not have a primary, but it does have three candidates: incumbent Dawson Hodgson, a Republican from North Kingstown; Democrat Winter Hames III, of Narragansett; and independent Harvey Cataldo, of Narragansett.

Hodgson was elected to the seat in 2010, following the retirement of Mike Lenihan.