GOV. MAURA HEALEY and US Sen. Ed Markey beat back long-shot Republican challengers as Democrats maintain control in Massachusetts, the AP called minutes after polls closed Tuesday, and the party looks poised to win key races around the country in the 2026 midterm elections.
In a national political environment favoring Democrats, Bay State voters chose to stick with Healey and Markey at the top of the ticket for another term in this Democratic stronghold. The party is set to preserve control of Beacon Hill with supermajorities and send an all-Democratic delegation to Congress yet again in an election defined by voters’ dissatisfaction with President Trump and cost-of-living issues.
Healey won a second term in the corner office by beating Republican nominee Mike Minogue. And Markey, after defeating US Rep. Seth Moulton in the Democratic primary, secured victory over Republican challenger John Deaton, granting the 80-year-old incumbent progressive senator from Malden another term to stack onto his five-decade career in Congress.
Both officials consistently tied their opponents to Trump, who had only a 25 percent approval rating among likely Massachusetts voters in September, according to a MassINC/CommonWealth Beacon poll. Registered Democrats outnumber Republicans in Massachusetts by a 3-to-1 margin.
Healey and Markey both had been leading their respective races by 20-plus points in polling prior to the election. Minogue and Deaton had tried to cast their opponents as failed politicians who ushered in an affordability crisis now hammering Bay Staters who are burdened by soaring housing, energy, health care, and child care costs — forcing some of them to leave Massachusetts altogether.
In her victory speech Tuesday night, Healey hit on those affordability challenges that aren’t likely to quickly go away in her second term.
“I promise you this: I’m going to work my hardest every single day for the things that matter in your lives, to show up, to deliver, and to stand up when you need it most,” she said. “Now, that starts with lowering your costs.”
Minogue, a wealthy former biotech executive, spent nearly $20 million of his own money to power his bid to unseat Healey. No sitting Massachusetts governor has lost in a general election since 1974.
“It’s our responsibility now to respect the will of the people,” Minogue told supporters gathered in Burlington. “An election determines who holds the office. It does not determine what we believe in.”
Ultimately, the messages from Minogue and Deaton failed to resonate with voters and could not overcome larger political and economic trends favoring Democrats, even as residents remain concerned with the direction of the state.
That includes in places like Bristol County, an area where the GOP had been on the rise in recent years and where both Healey and Minogue had spent considerable time over the course of the campaign. President Biden won the county by 12 percentage points in 2020, but Democrats only eked out a 1-point win in the 2024 presidential election and narrowly lost Fall River to Trump.
But Democrats aimed to channel a nationwide blue wave to reverse GOP gains there and defend a number of vulnerable legislative seats after losing one to Republicans two years ago.
In addition to Trump’s deep unpopularity, war with Iran and sweeping tariffs have caused gas prices to urge and contributed to a stunted economy. Healey and Markey also pounced on the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration enforcement actions — which have led to raids and arrests in places like New Bedford and Lawrence — and Republicans’ efforts to undo access to abortion.
This year, elections in Massachusetts also featured a record-tying nine ballot questions on issues ranging from tax and housing policy to marijuana legalization to how elections themselves should be run.
All told, roughly $25 million was spent supporting or opposing those nine questions as of the latest financial data. Results are still pending, but these measures will shape the policy trajectory on a range of issues and make clear the will of the voting public — prompting consternation from leaders on Beacon Hill about the ballot process, the money tied to it, and the ability of voters to take lawmaking powers into their own hands.
The outcomes of the ballot questions will also be closely watched. Lawmakers have already teed up their own bills around public records, which would impose less stringent requirements on Beacon Hill than the version before voters, and tax refunds for residents.
Elsewhere, Democrats across the country are eyeing gains to break up Republicans’ grip on Washington since the GOP secured the White House, Senate, and House in the 2024 election that returned Trump to power for a second term.
Pollsters in recent weeks moved a slew of close races in Iowa, Pennsylvania, New York, and elsewhere in Democrats’ direction during a midterm election that traditionally heavily favors the party that’s out of power in Washington. But it’s still unclear what exactly the margins will be in Congress.
In Massachusetts, Reps. Richard Neal, James McGovern, Katherine Clark, and Ayanna Presley cruised to reelection Tuesday, all but Neal running unopposed. As of 10 p.m., Massachusetts’ five other congressional districts had not yet been called by the Associated Press.
In New England, New Hampshire elected Democrat Chris Pappas to the Senate in a battleground race, the AP projected, and Democrats flipped a North Carolina seat by sending Roy Cooper to victory.
Republicans are also defending Senate seats in states like Alaska, South Carolina, and Texas and governor’s offices in Ohio and Iowa — races that had been tightening in polls leading up to Election Day, serving as a test for just how deep into red territory Democratic wins might stretch.
“Voters have spoken, and Democrats will continue to lead Massachusetts,” said Steve Kerrigan, chair of the state Democratic Party. “Every generation of Massachusetts residents have faced the same choice: Wait for the future to arrive, or go out and build it. And every time, every time we’re faced with that choice, our commonwealth has picked up the tools and gotten to work.”
