Middleboro Review and so on

View in browser   BY  LISA KASHINSKY Presented by UPS UNFORCED ERROR —  Bristol County sheriff hopeful and Attleboro Mayor Paul Heroux is the latest candidate to accuse his November rival of refusing to debate. Except this time, it’s not entirely true. The latest controversy in an already contentious sheriff’s race began  when Heroux’s campaign sent out a press release Thursday saying Sheriff Tom Hodgson “refused to debate.”   The Democrat claimed the Republican incumbent “backed out of a debate” moderated by New Bedford Light’s Jack Spillane, “refused an offer” to debate by the League of Women Voters and “did not respond” to the NAACP New Bedford branch about a candidate forum. At the end of the press release, Heroux’s campaign said it was “unclear” whether Hodgson had agreed to a televised debate on WPRI slated for Oct. 28. But Hodgson had accepted WPRI’s debate offer on Sept. 15,  the same day invitations were sent out,   WPRI’s Ted Nesi confirmed t...

  View in browser   BY  LISA KASHINSKY MIXED SIGNALS —   New England’s final primaries were as much a test   of former President Donald Trump’s hold over the GOP as they were a barometer for whether a dying breed of more moderate, less partisan Republicans could keep their way of politicking alive. The results were mixed. New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu is through  to a general election fight against Democrat Tom Sherman that forecasters say the incumbent is likely to win. Moderates also have hope in Rhode Island, where centrist former Cranston Mayor Allan Fung will take on Democratic state Treasurer Seth Magaziner in the 2nd Congressional District. But Massachusetts Republicans handed Trump-endorsed conservative  former state Rep. Geoff Diehl the party’s gubernatorial nomination last week over a more moderate businessman backed by Sununu. Moderate Gov. Charlie Baker, who declined to seek a third term, is refusing to weigh in on the race in which the D...