Massachusetts Got Bluer Yesterday As Democrats Flipped Two Of The Last State Senate Seats (In Trump Districts)

Man In The Middle by Nancy Ohanian

People think of Massachusetts as an all blue state. It isn't. There's a Republican governor. And although Hillary won in a landslide in 2016, Trump still got over a million votes (33.5%). And in 2018, Republican Geoff Diehl won 36.2% of the vote statewide against Elizabeth Warren in the U.S. Senate contest and beat her by a point in Plymouth County (where Trump had done relatively well too). Republican Governor Charlie Baker was reelected 1,781,982 (66.8%) to 886,281 (33.2%) against Democrat Jay Gonzalez, winning every county in the state in his massive landslide. And the state elects Republicans to the state legislature too. There are 31 Republicans in the 160-member state House and after the 2018 election the 40-member state Senate had 6 Republicans. As of yesterday, though, there are just 4 Republicans in the state Senate.

Yesterday saw two special elections to replace Republicans who retired. As we explained a couple of months ago, Republicans Donald Humason (who didn't even have an opponent in 2018!) and Vinny deMacedo resigned from their seats, respectively in Hampden and Hampshire and in Plymouth and Barnstable. In the primaries, there were clear signals that these two red districts-- both of which had voted for Trump in 2018-- were going to go blue. In the Hampden and Hampshire district, 20,848 people voted for the Democrat and just 5,586 came out to vote for the Republican. That's quite a disparity. There was also one in the other district, where 32,858 Democrats voted in the primary but just 14,755 Republicans.

Yesterday, the two seats flipped, auguring very badly for Republicans in 2020. The chairman of the state Democratic Party, Gus Bickford, said the big defeats reflected a rejection of Señor Trumpanzee's politics. John Velis, a conservative Democrat, beat John Cain in Humason's district (which hadn't elected a Democrat in 25 years) in a landslide-- 64-36%. And Democrat Susan Moran beat Republican Trumpist James McMahon 10,780 (55%) to 8,927 (45%).

Both special elections had been scheduled for March 31 but were postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and were carried out with both traditional in-person voting and the use of mail-in voting, an option that lawmakers are weighing for the Sept. 1 primary and Nov. 3 general election.

"Two areas that were strong for Donald Trump a few years ago came back home and voted blue tonight," Democratic Party Chair Gus Bickford said in a statement Tuesday night. "Democrats and independents are united now more than ever, and we will continue to work together through the fall. These two flipped seats are a sign of things to come in a few months."

..."Not only is this a great day for Senator-elect Moran, it's a great day for her new constituents and their fellow Bay Staters," said Rebecca Hart Holder, executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Massachusetts. "Her victory flipped a seat that had been previously held by a staunch anti-choice politician and prevented it from falling into the hands of another."

On June 2, voters are scheduled to settle two House special elections to fill seats held until recently by Jennifer Benson of Lunenburg and Shaunna O'Connell of Taunton. Benson left the House to work as president of the Alliance for Business Leadership and O'Connell resigned after being elected as mayor of her hometown last November.

Democrat Carol Doherty and Republican Kelly Dooner, both of Taunton, are competing in the Third Bristol House district. In the 37th Middlesex district, Democrat Danillo Sena of Acton faces Republican Catherine Clark of Lunenburg.

Blue America concentrates on congressional seats and the only times we get involved in state legislative races is when we sense a candidate is so extraordinary that they are destined for Congress or for statewide office. This cycle we are looking at several candidates around the country and so far we have endorsed just three. You can find them by clicking on the 2020 Blue America state legislative races thermometer above. Remember, some of the best and most effective members of Congress, like Red Lieu (D-CA), Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), Jamie Raskin (D-MD) and Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) honed their skills in their states' legislatures. Two of our top congressional candidates-- Jon Hoadley (D-MI) and Tom Winter (D-MT)-- are currently-serving members of their state legislatures.

Trump and his enablers are getting blamed for the incompetent and dysfunctional U.S. response to the pandemic, If that keeps building, especially if Wave II is as strong as I expect it to be, the November anti-red electoral wave is going to be mighty strong.