Kennedy, Adams Victories Hailed by Democrats

Democrats on Wednesday celebrated results of the year’s last big round of primaries, saluting the rising of a new Kennedy star in Massachusetts and the strong showing of a former Jimmy Carter Cabinet member trying to unseat a Republican senator in Washington state.

On the East Coast, Tuesday’s congressional primary victory of Joseph Kennedy, eldest male in the new generation of the nation’s most famous political family, was widely expected but still loudly welcomed.

In Washington state, Brock Adams, former Seattle congressman and later President Carter’s transportation secretary, won almost as many votes in his Democratic Senate primary as Sen. Slade Gorton did on the Republican side.

Each Polled About 46%

Overall, each got about 46% of the ballots cast by Washington voters, who were allowed to take part on either the Democratic or Republican side, although Gorton’s count was a few hundred votes higher.

“He’s in big trouble and he knows it,” Adams said.

The state’s GOP chairwoman, Jennifer Dunn, said a quick call would be put in to the White House seeking in-person help from President Reagan, who has been campaigning in other states in hopes of retaining the party’s edge in the Senate.

In Oklahoma, Tuesday’s third primary state, final totals showed political newcomer David Walters, an Oklahoma City businessman, the winner of the Democratic nomination for governor by fewer than 4,000 votes out of nearly a half-million cast in his runoff race with state Atty. Gen. Mike Turpen, who said he may request a recount.

With all precincts reporting, Walters had 235,294 votes and Turpen had 232,122.

Would Face Bellmon

Walters would take on veteran Republican Henry Bellmon, a former governor and U.S. senator, in November.

In Massachusetts, the 33-year-old Kennedy, son of the late Robert F. Kennedy, still must face Clark Abt, who won the Republican primary, to win the Boston-area congressional seat once held by his uncle, the late President John F. Kennedy.

With all 222 precincts reporting, Kennedy had 58,899 votes, or 52.4%, and state Sen. George Bachrach had 33,975 votes, or 30.2%. Far back in an 11-way race were Melvin King, a leader of Boston’s black community, with 10,676 votes, or 9.5%, and James Roosevelt Jr., grandson of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, with 5,620 votes, or 5%.