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One of the most telling stories of this week's main battle between Boston city councilor Ayanna Pressley and representative Michael E. Capuano was in Somerville.
Before polling day, according to conventional wisdom, if Capuano won the Democratic primary – as many expected – it would be due to his forces in Somerville and other areas outside of Boston. Pressley, meanwhile, would dominate the Hub.
Except that Somerville, where Capuano was mayor in the 1990s, did not give him an overwhelming victory. He won by 122 votes, a little more than 50%, according to the unofficial account of the Associated Press. And in Boston, which accounted for the majority of the district's vote on Tuesday, Capuano was crushed, losing to Pressley 64 percent to 36 percent.
In total, Capuano lost the first to Pressley by 17 points.
But Somerville's 50-50 result is particularly spectacular given the history of Capuano with the region. He was Mayor and Alderman before being elected to Congress in 1998. He still lives on Central Street.
"Somerville of old is not today's Somerville at all," said Katjana Ballantyne, president of Alderman of Somerville, who supported Pressley.
She speaks from experience: Five years ago she ran against MP Joe Capuano's son. "Everyone thought, including Joe, that Capuano's name was a huge asset, but for many new residents, they did not know at all who their congressman was, so that turned out to be a factor. "Ballantyne said.
Somerville Mayor Joe Curtatone, who supported Capuano, said he was "surprised but not shocked" that Pressley has been so successful in his city.
"Because of President Trump, voters are crazy and are making themselves heard, which we found in the municipal elections last year," said Curtatone. "The city is getting younger and more diverse and it's demanding more from its leaders."
And while there was no competitive Democratic primary in the region for comparison, local leaders – and both campaigns themselves – said they were surprised by the turnout, particularly in neighborhoods where new millennial residents resided.
Capuano has won five of the city's seven services, ranging from East Somerville to West Somerville. But Pressley won by huge margins in millennia-rich pockets like Davis Square and Union Square, where Pressley received 59% of the vote.
Andre Green, a member of the Somerville School Board, represents neighborhoods in the Four – Winter Hill neighborhood, Ten Hills and Mystic View – parts of "Old Somerville," as he called it. He said that he was watching a particular number in Somerville overall on election day.
"I thought if she could get 40% from here, it would not be enough for him to overcome his lead in Boston," said Green.
Pressley was just under 50% in Somerville. But it was his huge advantage in Boston – about 17,500 votes – that gave him an insurmountable advantage. Indeed, two out of three votes that Pressley obtained throughout the district came from Boston voters.
Capuano did better at Everett, where he won about 1,300 votes, or 65% to 35%. He also won the parts of Chelsea District, 54% to 45%, while only 2,000 votes were cast.
Steve Koczela, president of the MassINC polling group, said his poll showed that, provided Pressley succeeds in Boston, the race would be won or lost in places like Somerville.
"Clearly, Pressley has found a way to make himself known to voters in places like Somerville and to reject them," said Koczela. "It was very clear that she was able to do it."
James Pindell can be contacted at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @ jamespindell or subscribe to its Ground Game newsletter about politics: http://pages.email.bostonglobe.com/GroundGameSignUp
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