Dem
53
Ties
1
GOP
46
Voters in Massachusetts headed to the polls yesterday to choose the Democrats who will represent them for the next 2 years (or more). Here are the results:
U.S. Senate: The marquee race of the night, of course, was the Democratic U.S. Senate primary between the elderly and progressive Sen. Ed Markey (80) and the younger and more centrist Rep. Seth Moulton (47). Polls suggested Markey would win in a walk, by about 30 points. But the only poll that counts is the ballots, and when they were counted... Markey had won in a walk, by 30 points. With 95% reporting, it's 65% fo the Senator, 35% for the Representative. It was lopsided enough that, after the polls closed, the AP took 4 whole minutes to call the race. Markey's next victim will be Marine Corps veteran and attorney John Deaton, who was unopposed yesterday.
MA-01: Rep. Richard Neal (D) isn't quite as far-left as Markey, but he's certainly lefty, and he's also a long-serving old fella, as he is 77 and has been in Congress since 1989. He faced a "time for someone younger" challenge from teacher Jeromie Whalen (39), who is about as lefty as Neal (or perhaps a shade more lefty), meaning the race was mostly about generational change. Neal came out on top, 54%-46%, and can now sign an extension on his lease in D.C., since the Republicans did not field a candidate for this seat.
MA-06: This is the seat that Moulton vacated in his unsuccessful attempt at getting a promotion. It was a six-way race, and the winner is former Biden administration official Dan Koh, who took 41% of the vote, outdistancing his nearest competitor by 12%. Koh leaned into his relationships with Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, which may not work everywhere, but seems to work fine in Massachusetts. Koh's opponent, in this D+11 district, is veteran and attorney Micah Quinney Jones, who was unopposed yesterday.
MA-08: Another race featuring a more lefty old-timer facing off against a more centrist young whippersnapper. Rep. Stephen Lynch (D) is 71, and is looking for a fourteenth term. He was challenged in his primary by lawyer Stephen Roach (39), who decreed that it is time for new blood. This was closer than the Senate race, but Lynch still came out on top 55%-45%. His opponent in November will be Robert Gerald Burke (R), who was unopposed. Despite being a perennial candidate (this is his third run for this seat), he has yet to create a website, so you can't like his chances, particularly given that the district is D+15.
MA-09: There are no Republicans holding statewide office in Massachusetts right now. The two U.S. Senators are both Democrats. And all nine members of the House delegation are Democrats. The best chance the GOP has at a foothold is probably this district, which isn't quite in "swing" range, but is close, at D+6 (the other eight House districts are even bluer). In the Democratic primary, the 73-year-old Rep. Bill Keating had a challenger, blue-collar jack-of-all-trades Craig Swallow. And it was a rout, with the Representative taking almost 78% of the vote. The Republican in the race is Tyler MacAllister, who is a fisherman and Mattapoisett Select Board member, and who was unopposed. Maybe MacAllister will win this thing, or maybe he'll at least keep it close, but we doubt it. That said if any Republican is going to send so much as a single dollar to the Bay State, it should go to him.
Governor: Gov. Maura Healey (D) was unopposed, so the state's Democratic voters are stuck with her, even though, at 55 years of age, she's barely even AARP-eligible. Her Republican opponent is going to be Army veteran and businessman Michael Minogue, who beat Marine Corps veteran and businessman Brian Shortsleeve yesterday, 75.3% to 24.2%. We will tell you three things. First, Minogue is the much more right-wing of the two GOP candidates. Second, Massachusetts, as a state, is D+14. Third, about 250,000 Republicans cast ballots yesterday, as compared to about 900,000 Democrats. Readers presumably don't need our help reading the tea leaves here.
Can we draw any conclusions from what happened in Massachusetts yesterday? Sure. Labor is still a key voting bloc in Massachusetts, is very well organized, is pretty lefty, and tends to favor "the devil you know." This is not especially generalizable to any other state, however. Well, ok, maybe some of the upper Midwest states.
Next week, it is New Hampshire and Rhode Island. And then, a week later, the First State (i.e., Delaware) brings up the rear. (Z)