BU News Service
BOSTON – Voters re-elected incumbents Gov. Charlie Baker, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Attorney General Maura Healey and Secretary of the Commonwealth William F. Glavin. Ayanna Pressley, who ran unopposed, will move forward as the first Congresswoman of color for the state.
Voters also rejected Question 1, but Question 2 and 3 have been approved. Here’s a recap.
House of Representatives race
District 1 – Veteran incumbent Richard Neal, a Democrat, ran uncontested, winning de-facto in the first congressional district. The Springfield native was first elected in 1989 and has been re-elected every election since then. He is currently the dean of the Massachusetts delegation to the House of Representatives.
District 2 – Incumbent Democrat James McGovern won Massachusetts Congressional District 2. McGovern overtook Republican Tracy Lovvorn, acquiring 68 percent of the vote, with Lovvorn garnering 32 percent with 54 percent of precincts reporting. This will be the Worcester native’s eleventh term in Congress. McGovern is the second-ranking Democrat in the House Rules Committee.
District 3 – In this closely watched congressional contest, Democrat Lori Trahan won over her competitor, Republican Rick Green, by 20,000 votes. She narrowly won her party’s primary by defeating nine other candidates. The September democratic primary results were so close that a recount was requested and completed. Trahan eked out a victory over Dan Koh, by 145 votes. There was no incumbent in this election as Nicki Tsongas did not run for re-election.
District 4 — Joseph Patrick Kennedy III, a Democrat, ran uncontested as the Democratic incumbent in the 7th congressional district. Son of Representative Joe P. Kennedy II and grandson of former U.S. Attorney General Bobby Kennedy, Kennedy has been serving as a Representative since 2013.
District 5 — Incumbent Democrat Katherine Clark has won her seat against her Republican candidate John Hugo with 72 percent of the vote. Clark has represented Massachusetts in the house since the 2013 special election after Ed Markey won his U.S. Massachusetts Senate seat. Republican challenger John Hugo is a lifelong Massachusetts resident who campaigned as the working class candidate.
District 6 — Incumbent Democrat Seth Moulton beat Republican candidate Joseph Schneider in the 6th congressional district, winning by almost double the votes — 109,917 to 51,160. Moulton is a Harvard University graduate and former Marine Corps officer. He first took office as Representative in January 2013.
District 7 — Ayanna Pressley ran unopposed and has now become Massachusetts’ first Congresswoman of color, representing 7th congressional district. Pressley defeated incumbent Michael Capuano capturing 59 percent of precincts as opposed to Capuano’s 41, winning the 2018 Democratic nomination with no other challengers in the traditionally Democratic district.
District 8 — Democrat Stephen F. Lynch ran uncontested in the 8th congressional district. He first took office in 2001 in the 9th district and 2013 in the 8th district. Lynch was born and raised in South Boston, he currently sits on the Financial Services Committee and the Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
District 9 — Democratic incumbent Bill Keating won his race in the 9th congressional district. Keating ran against South Shore local Republican Peter Tedschi. Keating took 60 percent of the vote, with Tedschi taking 40 percent with 65 percent of the vote reported. This will be the fifth term in Congress for Keating who is a senior member of both the House Foreign Affairs and Homeland Security Committees.
Question 2 results
Massachusetts has voted “yes” on Question 2 which will create a 15-member citizens commission to write an amendment to overturn the Citizens United v. the Federal Election Commission decision from 2010. With 41 percent of precincts reporting, the question won with 71 percent of the vote. It’s part of a national effort at the grassroots level to get corporate money out of politics.
Question 3 results
Massachusetts votes to continue protection of the rights of transgender and gender-nonconforming people by voting “yes” on Question 3. The approval from Massachusetts voters will uphold the laws put in place by the Massachusetts legislature July of 2016 to protect these people from being discriminated in public places. “Keep MA Safe,” the opposition, referred to this ballot bill as a “bathroom bill,” and ran campaigns that focused on protecting women and children from possible sexual predictors.
Secretary of the Commonwealth results
William Francis Galvin won his seventh 4-year term the Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth, defeating Republican Anthony Amore. With a quarter of the precincts reporting, Galvin took 71 percent of the vote, with Amore taking 25 percent and Green-Rainbow candidate Juan Sanchez 4. Massachusetts born and raised, Galvin began his political career back in 1972 and defeated John Bonifaz in the September 2016 Democratic primary.
Attorney General results
Incumbent Democrat Maura Healey beat out Republican candidate Jay McMahon with 70 percent of the vote and 27 percent of the precincts reporting. First elected MA Attorney General in 2014, Maura Healey has spent her four years in office actively prosecuting on behalf of the state as well as challenging the Trump administration on a range of matters including the so-called Muslim ban. She also led the effort by 20 state Attorneys General calling for the appointment of a special prosecutor in the wake of President Trump’s firing of FBI director, James Comey. Upon her election in 2014, Healey became the first openly gay attorney general in the U.S.
Question 1 results
Question 1, the ballot initiative that would have established strict nurse-patient ratios throughout the state, was rejected by Massachusetts voters with 71 percent voting no with 27 percent of precincts reporting.
This is a victory for the Coalition to Protect Patient Safety, the organization that predicted dire results if the vote were to pass. Back in September, polls showed voters were split on the issue – with 44% voting no and 44% voting yes – according to a poll conducted by MassInc Polling Group.
In a press release, The Massachusetts Health & Hospital Association (MHA) who opposed the question, said that today voters chose to support the high-quality patient care the state’s hospitals provide. “What we won tonight was the ability to continue providing the best possible care for patients through Massachusetts,” said Steve Walsh, President and CEO of MHA in a statement issued earlier.
Senator race
Warren was declared the winner by the Associated Press besting her Republican opponent Massachusetts State Representative, Geoff Diehl 80 percent to 18 percent with 80 percent of the precincts reporting.
Diehl ran as a strong President Trump supporter and campaigned on aligning his policies with the President’s agenda. Gov. Baker endorsed Diehl during a debate at WGBH. This will be Warren’s second term in the Senate where she is seated as the Senior Senator.
Governor race
Republican Gov. Baker has been declared the winner against his Democratic opponent Jay Gonzalez by 68 percent of the vote with 32 percent of precincts reporting. A Republican has held the Governor’s office for the last 19 out of 27 years. Governor Baker is the number one most popular governor in the U.S. based on the most recent Morning Consult poll.
In Baker’s victory speech, he promises to find “common ground.”
“To fix the stuff that’s broken, especially the stuff that was difficult and messy that no one was paying any attention to. To treat your money like it’s ours. and to make sure government works for those that need it most. to focus on the details because they matter,” he said. “To treat people with respect, and as my dad has always said to me, to be tough on the issues and soft on the people.”
Sara Amell, Rachel Rock, Jenny Rollins, M.F. Sánchez, Susannah Sudborough and K. Sophie Will contributed to this report.
