Massachusetts 2018 Election Results

Massachusetts held its general election on November 6, 2018, deciding 200 legislative seats and 6 statewide offices led by the governorship. No chamber changed party control.

Highlights

• Massachusetts kept its divided government: voters returned a Republican governor by a landslide while Democrats added to the two-thirds supermajorities they already held in both chambers.
• Gov. Charlie Baker (R) beat Jay Gonzalez (D) by about 33 points, with Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito (R) on his ticket. WBUR said the popular incumbent easily fended off Gonzalez, a former administration and finance secretary under Gov. Deval Patrick. Its final poll found more registered Democrats planning to vote for Baker than for Gonzalez, in a state where just 10 percent of voters are registered Republicans.
• Down the ballot, Democrats picked off two Republican incumbents in what Boston.com called a handful of upsets. In the Norfolk, Bristol and Middlesex District, newcomer Becca Rausch (D) unseated Sen. Richard Ross (R) by nearly 2,000 votes. Ross had held the seat since succeeding Scott Brown in 2010. In the 18th Essex District, Andover legal aid attorney Tram Nguyen (D) ousted four-term Rep. James J. Lyons, Jr. (R), a staunch Beacon Hill conservative, by about 10 points. WGBH reported Democrats spent $112,000 to defeat him, 14 times the cost of an average House race.
• Every other statewide officer was re-elected comfortably: Attorney General Maura Healey (D), Secretary of State William F. Galvin (D), Treasurer Deborah Goldberg (D), and Auditor Suzanne Bump (D) each won by more than 30 points.
• All 5 legislative seats that changed hands went from Republicans to Democrats. The third was the open 17th Worcester District, won by David LeBoeuf (D). The closest hold came in the 2nd Essex District, where Rep. Leonard Mirra (R) survived by about 320 votes. Competition was thin overall: 127 seats had only one candidate on the ballot.
• Voters decided 3 statewide questions, rejecting one and passing two. They rejected Question 1, the nurses union's bid to cap patient assignments, after the hospital-backed opposition outspent supporters roughly two to one. They approved Question 2, creating a citizens commission to advocate constitutional changes on political spending and corporate personhood, and upheld the 2016 transgender public-accommodations law through Question 3, a veto referendum where a yes vote kept the law.

Legislature

• House (160 seats): 117 D, 34 R, 9 other or vacant before the election, 128 D, 31 R, 1 other or vacant after; control stayed with Democrats.
• Senate (40 seats): 31 D, 7 R, 2 other or vacant before the election, 34 D, 6 R after; control stayed with Democrats.

Statewide races

Legislative races

Ballot measures