Long-time lawmaker loses Mass. primary

BOSTON, Sept. 17 (UPI) -- A long-time fixture of the Massachusetts Senate lost in the state primary to an opponent who hammered away at the incumbent's ethical issues.

Fifteen-year incumbent Sen. Dianne Wilkerson, the state's lone black senator, lost by 228 votes to two-time challenger Sonia Chang-Diaz, a former schoolteacher, in Tuesday's primary, the Boston Globe reported Wednesday.

Chang-Diaz took 50.57 percent of the vote to 49.29 percent for Wilkerson, the Globe said. Pending results of a possible recount, which Wilkerson would have to seek, Chang-Diaz will face Socialist Workers Party candidate William Theodore Leonard in the Nov. 4 general election. There is no Republican candidate.

"I'm going to finish what I started to the extent that I can do that this year," Wilkerson told supporters. "It's been a long day, and I'm not going to let you all leave here feeling defeated."

Chang-Diaz pounded Wilkerson on ethics issues, including her paying a $10,000 fine to the state attorney general's office and acknowledging campaign finance violations dating back to 2000. Wilkerson also faced a federal income tax investigation, in which she pleaded guilty to four misdemeanor charges and served 30 days in a halfway house.