MASS GOP has done this by promoting extremists!
Massachusetts House to have more Democrats than any session since 2009
excerpt:
BOSTON — The already-massive supermajority Democrats wield in the Massachusetts Legislature is guaranteed to get larger next session.
With one race still too close to call Wednesday afternoon, Democrats had already claimed victory or been declared winners in 132 of 160 House districts. That’s three more seats than they secured last cycle, and with the Senate maintaining its existing 37-3 breakdown, Democrats are assured of a net legislative pickup of at least three and perhaps four seats as they head toward trifecta control on Beacon Hill.
Republicans so far won 26 seats in the House, four fewer than they held at the start of the 2021-22 term, and Rep. Susannah Whipps of Athol secured reelection to keep one district independent.
By Wednesday afternoon, 39 of the 40 Senate races had been called by the Associated Press, and Democrat Rep. Jake Oliveira of Ludlow claimed victory in the only other one. Democrats cruised to victory in all five open Senate races, with Oliveira, fellow Reps. Liz Miranda of Boston and Paul Mark of Peru, and newcomers Robyn Kennedy of Worcester and Pavel Payano of Lawrence set to join the chamber in January.
All three Senate Republicans — Minority Leader Bruce Tarr of Gloucester, Patrick O’Connor of Weymouth and Ryan Fattman of Sutton — secured reelection Tuesday, when every single incumbent in either chamber who sought another term emerged victorious.
The final unresolved House race could break in either direction as the final votes get tallied.
In the First Middlesex District, which Republican Rep. Sheila Harrington of Groton held until she resigned to join the judiciary, Townsend Republican Andrew Shepherd led Pepperell Democrat Margaret Scarsdale by only a few dozen votes with an undetermined amount of mail-in ballots yet to be counted, according to a source.
If Shepherd closes out a victory, it would leave the final balance at a three-seat loss for Republicans compared to the start of the last term; a Scarscale comeback would push the shift to four seats.
The outcome is on track to surpass what top Massachusetts Democrats forecast in the days leading up to Tuesday’s election, and it reflects another string of losses for Republicans who will not only see their minority ranks in the House shrink but will also hand the corner office to Democrat Gov.-elect Maura Healey after eight years under Republican Gov. Charlie Baker.
Baker, who opted against seeking a third term and has repeatedly clashed with MassGOP leadership who are seeking to pull the party further to the right in an embrace of former President Donald Trump, did not say much Wednesday when asked to reflect on the significance of Republican losses.
“The voters spoke; it’s what elections are for,” Baker said after meeting with Healey to discuss the gubernatorial transition.
Pressed on what the outcomes up and down the ballot mean for the MassGOP and his future connections to the state party, he replied, “She’s still the attorney general, I’m still the governor. I’ve got a job I got to do for the next 58 days or so, and then we can talk about that stuff.”
With Tuesday’s wins, Democrats have now expanded their House supermajority in each of the past three elections. And regardless of the outcome in the lone unresolved district, the incoming class will reflect the most House Democrats at the start of a two-year term since the 2009-10 session, when they outnumbered Republicans 144 to 16.
Democrats secured a clean sweep of all five incumbent-free House districts newly drawn in the latest round of redistricting, which will send Rita Mendes of Brockton, Judith Garcia of Chelsea, Estela Reyes of Lawrence, Kate Donaghue of Westborough and Priscila Sousa of Framingham to Beacon Hill. (Of that group, only Donaghue and Garcia had opponents in Tuesday’s election.)
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