Welcome to the Saturday edition of MASSterList, designed to provide a review of the week in Massachusetts politics and policy and featuring a condensed version of the State House News Service's Friday Roundup.
A lot has happened since Donald Trump got nearly 1.17 million votes here when last on the ballot in November 2020.
He helped incite what became a deadly riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, then was impeached by the House of Representatives for a second time. The U.S. Supreme Court, led by Trump's appointees, eliminated the federal right to an abortion in June 2022 and kicked off political blowback that sunk Trump's midterm candidates.
Trump was convicted by a Manhattan jury on 34 felony charges in a hush money case this spring and has been indicted on more than 100 charges overall including conspiracy and obstruction of justice.
So despite all of that, and in some cases because of it, Trump not only won his way back into power Tuesday but is on track to win the popular vote and posted his best results yet in Massachusetts, securing the support of more than 1.23 million people here.
AP results showed Trump having won a majority or plurality of votes in about 80 of the state's 351 municipalities. The Republican carried every single town he won in 2020 and flipped about two dozen that were claimed four years ago by the Democratic ticket. That list includes: Fall River, Hanover, Millbury, Sutton, Whitman, Bridgewater, Pembroke, Westport, Salisbury, Athol, Saugus and Uxbridge.
In practically every city and town around Massachusetts, Trump performed better in 2024 than he did in 2020. Trump even flipped Florida — he carried the northern Berkshire County town with 218 votes to 184 for Harris.
That trend held true in some of the cities with heavy concentrations of Hispanic voters. In Chelsea, the Republican gained about 400 votes and his vote share increased 10 percentage points to 30 percent between 2020 and 2024. And Trump gained almost 2,700 votes in Lawrence to take a major leap in support there, from 25 percent in 2020 to 40 percent this year.
New priorities and expecting fewer federal dollars
For Gov. Maura Healey, Trump's reelection marks the return of a familiar foil. She sued Trump more than 100 times as attorney general and began to make a national name for herself as a Democrat willing to go toe to toe with the Republican's administration. Within a few hours of holding a State House press conference Wednesday to acknowledge everyone's feelings about the election results and to pledge that she will continue to push for the state's priorities, the governor was on cable news talking Trump once again.
House Speaker Ron Mariano's response specifically contemplated "the potential for decreased federal support" and Senate President Karen Spilka referred to Trump's first term as "an anti-democratic presidency." Both suggested that the Legislature will have a lot of work to do to shield Massachusetts policy from Trump's influence.
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