While we all deconstruct the governor’s race and bemoan losses in the U.S. Senate, we should keep in mind some significant victories for Democrats and progressives. Here are some that for me are close to home–literally and figuratively:
- Seth Moulton beat out republican Richard Tisei for the 6th congressional district.
- State Senator Jason Lewis won a decisive victory over Melrose Alderman Monica Medieros, holding onto the seat he won in the April 1 special election (5th Middlesex).
- Running on a progressive platform, Steven Ultrino won his bid to represent the Middlesex 33rd, besting Independent John Matheson 2:1. He will replace outgoing Chris Fallon, one of the more conservative Democrats in the House. This is a victory for the people of Malden.
- Other bright spots include Christine Barber in Medford/Somerville, Mike Day in Winchester/Stoneham, and Paul Brodeur in Melrose/Malden.
- We’re glad to be sending Katherine Clark and Ed Markey back to Washington.
What would you add to the list? Please share your good news or any surprises–good or bad–in local races.
Please share widely!
…Shaheen and Kuster retaining their seats, especially since the former gives Scott Brown the distinction of the only person to have lost to two different women in two different states!
But I never really thought Shaheen was in danger. I was probably wrong about that, I suppose. But I am sure glad it turned out the way it did. Scott Brown will think twice before trying this again.
We only lost two seats in the State Senate, if I’ve counted correctly, and a handful in the State House. There were a lot of losses in my home region of Worcester County, but the area’s bright spot was in my home district’s Senate race, where Anne Gobi held on to the Worcester, Hampden, Hampshire, and Middlesex Senate district (Brewer) by just under 400 votes.
Agree with your list, very happy about the Steve Ultrino and Jason Lewis wins especially đŸ™‚ and totally agree with the Scott Brown addition of course — so so glad to see him get beat again!
I would add the resounding win for Question 4 — by 20 points — but more importantly the why and the how of that win. There was month after month of activism and coalition building and just tremendous work that went into that win. I couldn’t help but think that if that much work for a long period of time had gone into Question 2, it might have been able to better confront the onslaught of big corporate money and propaganda.
Here’s hoping the RaiseUp MA coalition can keep on working in the future on other issues. It moved the needle on the minimum wage and scored big on earned sick time — but there’s plenty more to do, especially now that we have a Republican Governor and Tea Party Lt. Governor — it’s gonna be a target rich environment as they say đŸ™‚
…about progressive bright spots, focusing on ballot questions. Even though progressives on MA ballot questions just got one out of four, nationwide many good questions passed. Sick time passed in three cities; minimum wage increases went 5 for 5; WA voters realized that if they wanted background checks for guns they had to both vote for the question calling for them and against the question banning them; two states and DC voted to legalize recreational pot (not a fan myself, but score for the progressive side I guess).