Massachusetts 2020 Election Results

Massachusetts held its general election on November 3, 2020, deciding 200 legislative seats. No chamber changed party control.

Highlights

• Democrats won a slight expansion of their veto-proof majorities in both chambers over Gov. Charlie Baker (R), who had campaigned for several GOP candidates for the Legislature. The Senate Republican caucus shrank to three members, the fewest at the start of a session since at least 1970.
• The Senate's one November flip came in north-central Massachusetts, where John Cronin (D) unseated Dean Tran (R) in the Worcester and Middlesex District by about 2 points. Tran had been stripped of a leadership post in March after an ethics investigation found his State House staff doing campaign work.
• In the House, Democrats took two Republican seats and lost one:
  • Kip Diggs (D) unseated Rep. William Crocker Jr. (R) in the 2nd Barnstable District on Cape Cod; his campaign said he would be the first African-American state legislator from the Cape
  • Adam Scanlon (D) won the open 14th Bristol District, ending decades of Poirier family control of the seat
  • Kelly Pease (R) took the open 4th Hampden District, most recently held by Democrat John Velis before he moved to the Senate
• The closest race, in the 7th Hampden District, briefly showed James "Chip" Harrington (R) ahead on election night because of a town clerk's reporting error in Belchertown. Once it was corrected, and after a hand recount there, Jake Oliveira (D) was declared the winner by about 170 votes.
• Tran and Crocker were the only incumbents to lose in November, and 147 seats had no candidate from one of the two major parties. Apart from the 7th Hampden, the only race inside two points that did not change party was in the 5th Plymouth District, where Rep. David DeCoste (R) held on by fewer than 400 votes.
• Voters split the 2 statewide questions. Question 1, which gives independent repair shops and car owners more access to vehicle data, passed easily, and automakers sued to block it within weeks. Question 2, which would have adopted ranked-choice voting, failed despite a campaign that raised nearly $10 million.

Legislature

• House (160 seats): 128 D, 31 R, 1 other or vacant before the election, 129 D, 30 R, 1 other or vacant after; control stayed with Democrats.
• Senate (40 seats): 34 D, 6 R before the election, 37 D, 3 R after; control stayed with Democrats.

Legislative races

Ballot measures