Massachusetts voters Tuesday handed decisive re-election victories to incumbents running statewide, regardless of party affiliation.
U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren won re-election with 60 percent of the vote, setting the stage for a potential run for president.
"I am deeply grateful and I promise I will never stop working my heart out for you," said Warren addressing fellow Democrats in the Grand Ballroom at the Fairmont Copley Plaza hotel in Boston.
She cheered the party’s success in gaining control of the House and she pointed to victorious women in races for Congressional seats both in Massachusetts and across the country.
"Lets make sure nobody re-writes history; this resistance began with women and it is being led by women tonight," said Warren.
As a first time candidate for office six years ago, Warren’s dramatic win over Scott Brown elevated her national profile. Her re-election campaign against State Representative Geoff Diehl, who was Donald Trump’s Massachusetts campaign chairman, gave Warren a chance to show how she might take on Trump in 2020.
In her speech Tuesday night she vowed to “fight for a new day in America.”
During a town hall in Holyoke last month, Warren said she would take “a hard look” at running for president after the mid-term election. Last night, Rory Casey, a Democratic political activist in Holyoke, said Warren would be a strong candidate for president.
But he said there are many who like to see former Gov. Deval Patrick run as well.
" We have two strong contenders in Massachusetts," Casey said.
Riding a strong economy, low unemployment, and a bi-partisan approach to problem solving, Gov. Charlie Baker decisively won re-election to a second term with 67 percent of the vote.
""Folks, your hard work paid off — our hard work paid off," Baker said in his victory speech. "The people of the Commonwealth like what we do and they like how we do it, so much so they gave us a big win and the rest of the night off. But they want us back to work in the morning, and you know what, we're going to be there."
The moderate Republican decried the divisiveness of politics around the country and said working together is the key to progress.
" That colalborative, purposeful and humble approach to governing is exactly what you're going to get from us and from our team for the next four years." Baker pledged.
Democratic State Representative Aaron Vega of Holyoke said it was not a surprise that the same electorate in Massachusetts would give landslide victories to a Republican and an outspoken progressive Democrat.
" People like this idea of a Democratic legislature and a Republican governor --its a checks and balance and that is what people want to see nationally," said Vega.
Attorney General Maura Healey, Treasurer Deb Goldberg, Auditor Suzanne Bump, and Secretary of State Bill Galvin, all Democrats, all were re-elected by decisive margins.
The ballot question promoted by union activists to put limits on nurse-patient staffing was rejected by 70 percent of the voters. A hospital-funded organization spent more than $24 million on the campaign to defeat the question.
Voters overwhelmingly approved Question 3 to preserve the state’s transgender accommodations law.
And, voters approved Question 2, which establishes an unpaid commission to look at amending the U.S. Constitution to address the influence of money on politics.
