Massachusetts's 9th congressional district special election of 2001 was held on October 16, 2001 to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Representative

Joe Moakley John Joseph Moakley (April 27, 1927 – May 28, 2001) was an American politician who served as the United States representative for Massachusetts's 9th congressional district from 1973 until his death in 2001. Moakley won the seat from incumbent L ...

. Democratic State Senator Stephen F. Lynch won the election; defeating six candidates in the Democratic primary and three in the general election.

Primaries

The Democratic and Republican primaries were held on September 11, 2001. The election was overshadowed by the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commer ...

, which occurred shortly after polls opened. Stephen Lynch defeated State Senators Cheryl Jacques, Brian A. Joyce, and Marc R. Pacheco, former federal prosecutor William F. Sinnott, housing advocate John E. Taylor, and activist William A. Ferguson, Jr. for the Democratic nomination. State Senator Jo Ann Sprague defeated State Republican Committeeman William D. McKinney for the Republican nomination.

General election

Stephen F. Lynch won the general election. He defeated his nearest competitor, Jo Ann Sprague, by over 22,000 votes.

References

{{Massachusetts elections Massachusetts 2001 09 Massachusetts 2001 09 2001 09 Special Massachusetts 09 Special United States House of Representatives 09 Special United States House of Representatives 2001 09 October 2001 events in the United States