Woman, Five Men Vie For State House Seats

Not very far from the whirlwind glamour of Senatorial and gubernatorial races, five men and a woman have been battling all fall to represent Cambridge's middle district (Harvard Sq. and half of Central Square) in the Massachusetts House of Representatives.

Tomorrow the residents of the district will choose three of the candidates to represent them in the General Court for the next two years, and the final vote may throw one or more of the well-entrenched incumbents out of office.

Rep. Mary B. Newman, a veteran Republican legislator and long-time defender of University causes, is almost assurance of re-election. Her support in the Harvard Sq. area is almost impenetrable, and she also has respectable strength in Central Sq. and in the Houghton area.

But for the two Democratic incumbents, Rep. John J. Campbell and Rep. John Sennott, re-election may not be as easy as in many previous contests, because this year Campbell and Sennott face more than token opposition.

Campbell Most Vocal

The most vocal of the Republican challengers is Lee J. Campbell, who has been forced to spend much of his time convincing people that there are two Campbells in the race. Campbell has drawn many disgruntled Democrats into his organization and has been campaigning steadily in the district for several weeks.

If Campbell is to beat either of the incumbent Democrats, he must pull in a solid Republican vote, away many liberal Democrats in the Harvard Sq. area, and attract a large proportion of the Negro vote in the Houghton district.

Democratic candidates have traditionally picked up most of the votes in the Houghton area, but Campbell has done much free legal work on zoning violations in the district and has support from many community leaders.

In addition, the Republican candidate for Attorney-General, Edward J. Brooke, is expected to lend support to Republican candidates in Negro districts throughout the Commonwealth.

The third Republican challenger is Fred H. Lindstrom, the son of a well-known Cambridge politician. William Homans completes the Democratic slate.

In the contest to represent the Cambridge district in the Massachusetts Senate, veteran Sen. Francis X. McCann is expected to defeat his Republican challenger, Mrs. Cornelia B. Wheeler, a former member of the Cambridge City Council. Mrs. Wheeler was narrowly defeated in her bid for re-election to the Council last fall.

Although Mrs. Wheeler has been campaigning hard for election, McCann is firmly entrenched in other areas of the Senatorial district besides Harvard Sq. and will probably be re-elected.