Danielle Gregoire won the battle of the Middlesex 4th District Democrats tonight, taking 72 percent of the vote in a race for the state House against recent UMass graduate Matthew Giancola.

Gregoire, a longtime staffer for former Rep. Stephen LeDuc, cited her experience as the key to her victory.

"My experience at the statehouse really resonates with people," she told PolitickerMA.com, adding that it was her years on Beacon Hill that set her apart from Giancola.

Still, she knows that the real race has only begun. Gregoire feels that she is the underdog against her general election opponent, Republican Marlborough City Council President Arthur Vigeant, because of his fifteen year career in Marlborough city politics.

"I am absolutely the underdog but we are going to work fifteen times harder than he is to make sure we win in November," Gregoire said. "I have got a lot of people counting on me and I don't want to let them down."
Giancola, the former president of the college Democrats was disappointed in the results, but proud of his campaign's efforts.

"I don't know if there is any one reason," Giancola said about his second palce finish. "Danielle ran a great campaign. She just came out on top. It happens sometimes."