Massachusetts 2014 Election Results

Massachusetts held its general election on November 4, 2014, deciding 200 legislative seats and 6 statewide offices led by the governorship. No chamber changed party control.

Highlights

• Republicans broke the Democratic trifecta: Charlie Baker (R) won the open governorship, becoming the state's first Republican governor since Mitt Romney left in 2007, but Democrats kept the two-thirds majorities in both chambers needed to override his vetoes.
• Baker beat Attorney General Martha Coakley (D) by about 2 points, roughly 40,000 votes, and Coakley conceded the next morning. Both had lost in 2010: Baker to Gov. Deval Patrick, and Coakley to Republican Scott Brown in a U.S. Senate race. Patrick did not seek a third term. Evan Falchuk (UIP) took about 3 percent, which cleared the threshold for his United Independent Party to gain official recognition. Baker’s running mate, Karyn Polito (R), became lieutenant governor.
• Republicans also gained ground in the legislature, leaving the House at 125-35 and the Senate at 34-6, though the party fell short of the dozen seats it hoped to add. Anne Gobi (D) held the open Worcester, Hampden, Hampshire and Middlesex Senate seat by about 400 votes, one of 3 races in which the incumbent party held on by less than two points. All 8 legislative seats that changed party went Republican, among them:
  • Rep. Ryan Fattman (R) defeated Sen. Richard T. Moore (D) in the Worcester and Norfolk district.
  • Vinny deMacedo (R) beat Matthew C. Patrick (D) for the Plymouth and Barnstable seat of departing Senate President Therese Murray.
  • Susannah Whipps (R) unseated Rep. Denise Andrews (D) in the 2nd Franklin district.
  • David DeCoste (R) ousted Rep. Rhonda Nyman (D) by 49 votes in the 5th Plymouth district; Nyman had requested a recount.
  • James Kelcourse (R) took the open 1st Essex seat by 10 votes, and Kate Campanale (R) won the open 17th Worcester seat by 43 votes.
• Democrats held the other four statewide offices. Maura Healey (D) won the open attorney general’s race over John Miller (R) by more than 20 points, becoming the first openly gay state attorney general in the nation. Deborah Goldberg (D) won the open treasurer’s seat, and Secretary of State William F. Galvin (D) and Auditor Suzanne Bump (D) were re-elected.
• Voters passed 2 of the 4 ballot questions. They approved Question 1, which repealed automatic inflation indexing of the gas tax, and Question 4, which lets workers at employers with 11 or more employees earn up to 40 hours of paid sick time a year. They rejected the Question 3 casino repeal, emphatically upholding the casino law and clearing the way for resorts in Springfield and Everett. Question 2, an expansion of the bottle deposit law, was rejected by nearly three-quarters of voters.

Legislature

• House (160 seats): 129 D, 29 R, 2 other or vacant before the election, 125 D, 35 R after; control stayed with Democrats.
• Senate (40 seats): 35 D, 4 R, 1 other or vacant before the election, 34 D, 6 R after; control stayed with Democrats.

Statewide races

Legislative races

Ballot measures