Wow. Wow. Wow.
What a historic week.
I was lucky to spend election day out holding signs, passing out flyers, and talking to folks in Cambridge about the extra stipend reform question on their ballots. It was one of the most beautiful fall days we’ve had so far in Massachusetts, with pure blue skies shining behind orange trees in full splendor. Seeing democracy in action always stirs my emotions: parents bringing their young children for their first step into a ballot box, elderly couples walking to the polls hand-in-hand, drivers dropping friends off for the chance to vote and waiting outside patiently. I knew that the same scene was playing out in cities and towns across America—under different trees, with different skies, but the same commitment to civic duty and hope for a better world.
Little did I know.
I could talk for hours about this historic election, digging into the U.S. Senate and House and the repudiation of the Trump agenda from deep within red state territories. And I will, if you catch me on my personal time. But as an activist at the state level who is committed to a strong state democracy in Massachusetts, what really knocked me over was the state-level wins here and around the country.
Without further ado: the Scoop!
State House Scoop
Massachusetts: ballot questions show wins for the people against special interest money
I’ll talk about Massachusetts first, lest our own exciting news get buried in the midst of unbelievable coverage from states like Ohio, Mississippi (!), and Texas.
First, I want to congratulate Act on Mass endorsed candidates who won their elections on Tuesday: Representative-elect Ravi Simon in the 13th Middlesex, Representative-elect Lorena Betts in the 16th Middlesex, and Senator-elect Persis Yu in Norfolk and Suffolk. We are so proud to have supported these good government champions and look forward to working with them in the Legislature. If you know these candidates, please reach out to congratulate them! We need more fighters like them in the state house.
Next, Act on Mass was thrilled to see Massachusetts voters agree with us on all of our official ballot question positions.
- Voters approved Question 1 to subject the state Legislature and Governor to public records law, with a whopping 86% of the vote. The result makes it the most popular ballot question of the last decade by far. Once again, government transparency is the strongest consensus issue in Massachusetts, and we hope the powers that be are paying attention!
- Voters rejected Question 3, the all-party primary initiative, in an amazing win for working class candidates and grassroots movements against $8 million in private equity cash. Now for some real electoral reform, like ranked-choice voting…
- Voters passed Question 4 for election day voter registration. In a single election, Massachusetts voters passed a policy that has languished on Beacon Hill for 20 years. A huge win for voting rights and competitive elections!
- Voters rejected Question 5, choosing a well-funded government that can deliver for the people over tax cuts for millionaires. Another win for organized power over corporate interests!
- Non-binding stipend reform questions passed in all eight districts, with 82% of the vote on average. This win sends a strong message to legislative leaders: Bay Staters overwhelmingly reject a system of legislator pay that puts political leaders in charge of their representatives’ salaries. We look forward to pursuing this reform in the future.
For a town-by-town breakdown of these and other results on the ballot questions, we recommend WBUR.
Reading these results, I just have to say: thank you! On these ambitious ballot campaigns, we went up against the worst of entrenched power and moneyed interests in our state. Each one of these wins is a victory for the grassroots. We showed once again that the many beats the money. Thank you for voting, for door-knocking, for gathering signatures, for doing your research, for telling your friends and neighbors – this victory is yours!
At the statewide level, Governor Maura Healey easily coasted to victory over Republican Mike Minogue, who poured $20 million of his own money into the race. Democrats prevailed in every statewide race by wide margins. Overall, the top vote-getter was Auditor Diana DiZoglio, who garnered 83% of the statewide vote.
New Democratic legislatures raise stakes for Massachusetts supermajorities
In this year’s historic blue wave, Democrats flipped state legislatures in 11 states, including Republican strongholds like Texas. Republican supermajorities were broken in nine states, including Florida and Missouri. It was the highest number of legislative seats flipped for Democrats since the 1980s. Governorships also flipped from Republican to Democrat in five states, meaning that the majority of states will have a Democratic governor for the first time since 2010.
Until now, many of these states were known for using Republican supermajorities to churn out reactionary conservative policies: restricting abortion rights, LGBTQ+ rights, voting rights, and eroding public education (among other issues). Just this January, a visit to Texas reminded mehow important it is for us to have an effective legislature in Massachusetts, to use our Democratic supermajority to pass good, protective legislation to counterbalance those legislatures.
Turns out, Democrats in those states were fighting harder than we ever have. It is truly moving to think of the laws that these 11 new Democratic majorities might be able to roll back or prevent from passing and all of the people that will be safer because of it.
We can also trust these new blue majorities to get to work. I’m reminded of Minnesota, where Democrats gained a single seat (!) majority in 2023 and used it to pass a laundry list of progressive policies in a single session, including codifying abortion rights, paid medical and family leave, transgender rights protections, legalized marijuana, restored voting rights for former prisoners, and many others. Democrats in Minnesota regained their trifecta again on Tuesday; “Party like it’s 2023” is the headline in local press. In Wisconsin, where Democrats just took both chambers for the first time since 2010, a Democratic leader said: “We know that people will be counting on us to deliver, and we take that incredibly seriously.”
The blue wave reached our deep blue Legislature too, with at least three House seats flipped towards Democrats, including some wins for Gen Z. On the Cape, 23-year-old Democrat Jack Richardson unseated 15-year incumbent Republican David Vieira. In Billerica, 19-year-old Democrat Daniel Darris O’Connor beat 16-year incumbent Republican Marc Lombardo, one of the most conservative members of the state house. In addition, the seats of two outgoing Republican legislators (including that of retiring Minority Leader Brad Jones!) were won by Democrats in Lynnfield and Princeton. Democratic Rep. Steven Ouellette lost his seat to a Republican challenger on the South Coast, adding one Republican seat.
Though the race is yet to be called, Democrat Sarah Hewins is 89 votes ahead of Republican incumbent John Gaskey in the Second Plymouth district. Rep. Gaskey is a MAGA Republican who has sponsored amendments targeting transgender youth. If Hewins prevails, I would not be the only one happy to see Gaskey go. Depending on that race, the Democratic caucus in our Legislature may rise from 134 to 138 out of 160, an 86% majority. The State Senate remains unchanged at 35/40 Democrat, or 87.5%.
All that to say: Democrats have won another mandate in our state government. I, for one, would like to see our state leaders act like Minnesota in 2023!
Looking to the future, it is thrilling to imagine states like Texas and Wisconsin competing with Massachusetts to pass good, meaningful policy, instead of making our bare minimum output look like a win. I look forward to following these new Democratic majorities as they go to work across the country, seeing what they pass with their new margins, and using their efforts to prod our Democratic supermajority to action here in Massachusetts.
The blue wave was an anti-corruption wave
As the Washington establishment processes the “blue tsunami,” national figures on both sides of the aisle have tried to shape the narrative to suit their interests. For President Donald Trump, the Republicans lost because he wasn’t on the ballot (despite repeatedly telling voters to act like he was). According to Vice President J.D. Vance, the Republican’s loss can be entirely blamed on the Iran war, which drove Republican voters to support Democrats. For centrist Democrats, the win was driven by economic anxiety and powered by moderate candidates. For progressives, it was proof that populist economic messaging can win swing states.
However, none of these explanations quite address the sheer size of the “blue tsunami.” Across all Congressional races, Democrats won the popular vote by 13%. That is the largest margin of victory for any party since the elections of 1974 and 1976, which followed the Watergate Scandal and the resignation of a president. We’ve had unpopular wars and economic anxiety since then (and plenty of moderates running for Congress).
Obviously, no simple explanation can explain the choices of the record 124.3 million Americanswho turned out to vote in this midterm election—no matter how badly one wants to be president (looking at you J.D.) However, one unexpected motivating issue may at least partially explain the connection to those post-Watergate elections: government corruption.
In exit polls, more Americans cited government corruption as “crucial” to their vote than any other issue, including the cost of living and the Iran war. In fact, 91% of Americans surveyed reported that corruption was at least “a major factor” for their vote.
That’s no surprise, following two years in which the Trump administration and Elon Musk’s DOGE took a (literal) chainsaw to the institutions of American democracy. As Americans struggled against record-high inflation, Trump made $1 billion by launching his own crypto “memecoin.” He accepted eye-popping gifts, including a luxury jet donated by the Qatari royal family to replace Air Force One. He weaponized the DOJ against his political enemies. Meanwhile, his family members used their political status to engage in shady business deals across the globe. Not to even mention the coverup of the Epstein files.
But Trump was not the only corruption story on the ballot. In Texas, Trump’s hand-picked Senate candidate Ken Paxton had been impeached by his own party for abusing his office for personal gain. He went on to lose to Democrat James Talarico by 12 points. On the other end of the country, Senator Susan Collins was implicated in a pay-for-play scheme in which military contractors traded major campaign donations for lucrative contracts in Maine. She went on to lose to Democrat Troy Jackson by six points. In Iowa, voters elected a Democrat for the first time in 15 years: a former state auditor who campaigned on “fixing the broken political system through accountability, transparency, and a commitment to public service.” And in Massachusetts, 86% of Bay Staters voted to apply the state’s current public records law to the Legislature and Governor’s office. On local questions, 82% of Massachusetts voters supported a reform to legislative “loyalty pay.”
These results are clear: government corruption and back-room dealing were on the ballot this election. In every case, American voters—and Massachusetts voters—chose transparency, accountability, and good governance. In doing so, they found this issue more motivating than other concerns, including cost of living.
As a good government watchdog in Massachusetts, I found this result heartening. And let’s just say, if I were a Beacon Hill leader who relies on secret votes to keep my positions vague while funding my lifestyle through thousands of dollars in donations from lobbyists with business before the Legislature, I might take these election results to heart.
| Missed a Scoop or two? You can find a full archive of all past Saturday Scoops on our blog. |
What else we’re reading this week
Interesting writing and reporting from around the Bay State this week!
- Next year could mark a new record for women in the Mass. Legislature in Massterlist
- OPINION: On these ballot questions, voters did end runs around Beacon Hill in Boston Globe
Take Action
Happy Saturday, Scoop Readers!
I hope you’ve all been basking in the election results this week! Before we look ahead, I want to take a moment to thank all of our incredible volunteers this election cycle. Because so many of you had conversations with your neighbors about transparency and accountability, local stipend reform ballot questions received an average of 82% support across the House districts where they were on the ballot. These numbers send a clear message: the Beacon Hill status quo needs a serious shake-up.
If you’re looking for your next thing post-election, a place to channel that blue wave energy, or a way to build on the good government momentum, look no further than the Every District Accountable Campaign!
Between now and February, we’ll be organizing across the state to push elected officials to adopt structural reforms that make the State House work for everyone, not just wealthy donors and corporations. Ahead of the February House Rules vote, we’re organizing around four key reforms:
- Adopt a Single-Subject Rule to limit reliance on omnibus bills.
- Close the loophole on public committee votes.
- Guarantee at least 72 hours to review legislation before it comes to a vote.
- Reinstate eight-year term limits for the Speaker of the House and Senate President.
And to make this happen, legislators in every district need to hear from you. Fostering a productive relationship between constituents and their elected officials is essential to a healthy democracy. Voters should be able to trust that their interests are being represented in the State House, and provide good-faith feedback when their representative’s voting record doesn’t reflect that. We are invested in building that culture through sustained, grassroots organizing across the state, and we hope you’ll be a part of it!
Want to get involved? Fill out this form to connect with one of our district teams!
We’re also still accepting applications for Regional Organizers (ROs) to lead the following district teams:
- Western Mass
- Central Mass
- Metro West
- North Shore
- South Shore
- North of the Charles River (NOTC)
- Boston
You can read more about the Regional Organizer position here. Interested in applying? Send your resume to isabel@actonmass.org.
We hope you’re feeling just as energized as we are, and that we can count on you to help the Massachusetts Legislature live up to its potential.
– Isabel
Thanks for reading and for supporting Act on Mass! Have a great weekend.
Scotia
Scotia Hille (she/her)
Executive Director, Act on Mass