Turco Wins: Elected State Representative for the 19th Suffolk District

Attorney Jeffrey Rosario Turco of Winthrop carried the communities of Revere and Winthrop in impressive fashion to win the special election for the 19^th Suffolk District seat in the Massachusetts House of Representatives.

Turco received 1,861 votes in the district to finish first in the field of three candidates. Independent candidate Richard Fucillo Jr. was second with 473 votes while Republican candidate Paul Caruccio was third with 466 votes.

Turco received 1,385 votes in Winthrop while Caruccio (88) and Fucillo (68) were second and third respectively.

Turco succeeds former state representative Robert A. DeLeo of Winthrop, who served for 30 years in the seat and became the longest-serving House Speaker in the history of the Commonwealth with 12 years (2009-20) at the helm of the 160-member governmental body.

Turco has strong ties to both Revere, the community in which he grew up, and Winthrop, where he now resides with his wife, Melissa Turco, and their six children. He is the past president of the Winthrop Town Council and the current president of the Revere Beach Partnership.

The 6-foot-6-inch Democrat conducted an outstanding, issues-oriented campaign that he commenced soon after DeLeo announced that he would be stepping down to take a teaching position at Northeastern University Law School. Turco connected with voters during thousands of door-to-door visits, produced excellent campaign ads in newspapers that were well received by voters, and articulated his message effectively in the candidates’ forums. In the final election campaign, Turco maintained the momentum he had garnered in his hard-fought victory over three candidates (Juan Jaramillo, Alicia DelVento, and Valentino Capobianco) in the March 2 Democratic Primary.

Turco and his family joined supporters at a socially distanced gathering at the Casa Lucia function facility in Revere Tuesday night.

“I am thrilled about being elected, especially when I think of the people that have represented this area between Bob DeLeo and Al Saggese and a man that taught me politics, Billy Reinstein, also RoseLee Vincent and Kathi Reinstein – what an honor this is,” said Turco. “It’s an overwhelming sense of responsibility to prove to the people of this district that they made the right choice in two very competitive elections with very qualified candidates running.

“I’m looking forward to getting up to the State House to be sworn in and doing the work of the people,” said Turco.

Turco credited his campaign team for their work during the past three months.

“I couldn’t be prouder of the team we put together that went out and knocked on the many doors in blistering cold weather, the number of phone calls our volunteers made and the number of text messages – it was just an all-around team effort.”

Revere Mayor Brian Arrigo and Winthrop Town Council President Phil Boncore led the list of officials congratulating Turco on his victory.

“I congratulate our newly elected state representative, Jeff Turco,” said Arrigo. “I look forward to working with him and wish him the best of luck in his new position.”

Boncore, who served with Turco on the Winthrop Town Council, said the Winthrop resident will be an excellent representative for the district and he looks forward to working with him on local and regional issues.

“I know Jeff will do an outstanding job for Revere and Winthrop,” said Boncore, who is the father of State Sen. Joseph Boncore.

Revere Councilors Arthur Guinasso and John Powers both endorsed Turco in the final election.

“I think Jeff will do a great job as our state representative,” said Guinasso. “I think he’s going to be excellent. He’s well rounded. He has both communities covered – he grew up in Revere and he now resides in Winthrop. He has a ton of friends here and they’re all going to support him in office and in future elections.”

Said Powers, “Having been a former resident, Jeff is very familiar with the city of Revere. He spends a lot of time in this city and takes a tremendous interest in what’s going in the city. I am happy that he will be joining State Rep. Jessica Giannino in representing the entire city of Revere in the House.”

Richard Fucillo Jr., a 22-year-old senior at Emerson College, congratulated Turco during an appearance on Revere TV’s Special Election Night Show hosted by Revere Journal President Stephen Quigley.

“I want to say congratulations to Jeff Turco on his big victory,” said Fucillo. “He has a lot of work ahead of him and there’s going to be a lot of people holding him accountable. But I wish him luck in everything he does.”

Paul Caruccio also reflected on his campaign and the election results.

“I was really happy with the organization we put together and the commitment to the volunteers and how we got our platform out and expressed it to the community,” said Caruccio. “I’m also really happy with the opponents that I faced. I have a lot of respect and admiration for both Jeff Turco and young Rich Fucillo. I know them both and I know their families. You can’t ask for better opponents in a race in which we all got an opportunity to civilly state our perspectives and policies. We had great candidates and I’m very happy with the opportunity we all had to state our case.”

Caruccio thanked his campaign manager, Lisa Devescovi Mahoney, “who managed my campaign with impeccable political instincts.” He also expressed his appreciation to Lisa’s husband, Todd Mahoney, and the campaign volunteers for their work during the election.