Primary to Pare Down Race

Tuesday’s primary election will narrow the field to two from three in the race to replace Treasurer Michael Murphy, who is retiring after three four-year terms.

The candidates are: Allan Martin, the assistant state treasurer; Jim McIntire, a state representative and economics professor; and ChangMook Sohn, the longtime executive director of the State Revenue and Forecast Council, the nonpartisan body that compiles the economic and revenue forecasts used to assemble the state budget.

Sohn and McIntire are Democrats, and Martin is a Republican, though the primary is nonpartisan, as the state will be using its new “top two” primary system for the first time.

All candidates appear on one primary ballot, and the top two advance to the general election, regardless of affiliation.

Secretary of State Sam Reed helped devise the new system after the courts overturned the state’s previous blanket primary, in which voters were free to choose candidates from any party, with the top vote-getters from each party moving to the general election.

The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the new system this March.

Murphy, a Democrat, has endorsed his Republican deputy, Martin, who has worked in the state treasurer’s office since 1998 and takes credit for developing programs such as the Local Option Capital Asset Lending, or LOCAL, program and the School Bond Guarantee program.

Sohn touts his experience on the forecast council, from which he retired in February.

McIntire, who has drawn endorsements and contributions from public employee unions, cites his experience as an economics professor and chair of fiscal committees in the Legislature.

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