Ho-hum in Mass, but Hoo-ray nationally. (WMP&I)

EAST LONGMEADOW—Echoing much of the nation and sticking to its preferences, Massachusetts voters overwhelmingly reelected Democrats up and down the ballot. Even challengers who eschewed the GOP label faltered. Governor Maura Healey and Senator Ed Markey, who topped the ticket, stomped their opponents on the way to new terms. Both were declared the winners almost immediately. Down ballot, it was not quite instantaneous.

Such was the case here as a small gathering of supporters of 2^nd Hampden Rep Brian Ashe waited patiently for results. As the TVs at East Village Tavern showed the extent of the slaughter Republicans faced nationwide, there was little news about Ashe’s race, however likely his reelection was. Like voters out east, the 413 largely laughed off the GOP’s statewide candidates. Nonetheless, the region’s few GOP legislators who have survived rough cycles before endured once again.

In addition to Healey and Markey, all statewide Democrats easily beat back their opposition. Springfield Congressman Richard Neal dispatched Sheffield lawyer Nadia Milleron by a wider margin than in 2024, the first time she ran. Worcester Congressman James McGovern, who represents much of Franklin and Hampshire counties, did not face an opponent.

Democrats are on track to win more than 250 House seats. Democrats are on track to have one of their widest House majorities since the year Barack Obama was elected president. It could be larger than any majority since George H.W. Bush’s midterm in 1990. On the Senate side, Democrats picked up a seat from Kansas, which the party last did when Franklin Roosevelt first ran for president.

These results will almost certainly catapult McGovern and Neal back into the chairs of the powerful Rules and Ways & Means committees respectively. At a press conference at the Federal Courthouse on Wednesday, the Springfield Democrat laid out his priorities for the new Congress. Reversing Medicaid cuts, preserving Social Security and tariffs top Neal’s list.

Neal, essentially: We mean business. (WMP&I)

“I intend to be assertive in terms of the tariffs in particular,” he said.

Neal also said he has been speaking with other members of the Commonwealth’s delegation about the next Congress. Aside from McGovern, Revere Congresswoman Katherine Clark is set to become House Majority Leader. Representative-elect Daniel Koh of Andover had recently traveled to Springfield to discuss committee assignments with Neal.

The national drubbing could only reverberate into Massachusetts so much. The GOP has increasingly vanished even from former strongholds like East Longmeadow. However, Democratic control of Congress could provide some relief for states like Massachusetts that have been fighting back against Donald Trump’s illegality in court. Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell has filed or joined dozens of suits since Trump returned, many of them in US District court in Boston.

Ashe was the only incumbent Western Mass Dem facing a Republican challenger in the form of former Monson Select Board member Peter Warren. Third party or unenrolled candidates challenged other Democrats, including Neal, Holyoke State Rep Patricia Duffy and Lora Wondolowski, the Democrat running for the 1^st Franklin House seat.

Ashe had little to worry about, though. His district, which rambles along the Connecticut border from Monson to Springfield, easily reelected him. East Longmeadow is split between him and Springfield Rep Angelo Puppolo and has been trending toward Democrats. Two precincts in Springfield provide him with a critical firewall. Hoewver, the big prize in the district is one town over in the OG Longmeadow.

Unfortunately, it took forever for Longmeadow to process and count its ballots. A group of mostly Longmeadow politicos milled around waiting for results for over an hour. WMP&I called the race at 9:35PM once the town’s count became available. Ashe ultimately won with 64% of the vote to Warren’s 35%. The incumbent won all five communities in the district according to the Associated Press.

Rep Ashe, second left, celebrates the demolition of his opponent alongside Belchertown Rep Aaron Saunders and Longmeadow Select Board members Dan Zwirko and Vineeth Hemavathi. (WMP&I)

Duffy and Wondolowski likewise crushed Jose Ramon Candelario Gonzalez and Amy Lavellee respectively.

Although Ashe was the only Democrat facing a Republican challenger, two of the region’s Republican reps faced Democratic opponents.

Southwick Rep Nicholas Boldyga survived a challenge from Agawam City Councilor Tom Hendrickson and independent Jason Perron, a former Southwick Select Board member. The 3^rd Hampden Rep has been a target of Democrats and Republicans for years. Challengers have claimed he has accomplished little more than becoming a right-wing cartoon.

Boldyga won the smallest share of the vote since his first run in 2010. Yet, he still cleared 50%, despite a wave of bad press about his attendance on Beacon Hill and his messy pre-elected employment history.

Nearby in the 4^th Hampden, Westfield Rep Kelly Pease hung on against a challenge from fellow Whip City resident and first-time candidate Colby Hoffman.

The five Democrats who represent the overwhelming majority of the four western counties in the State Senate did not face an opponent on the ballot. Republican Ryan Fattman, who represents the eastern fringe of Hampden County, also did not have an opponent. Republican Senator Peter Durant, whose district dips a toe into Hampshire County by way of Ware, faced Democrat Shannon Teabo. He won with 54% of the vote and prevailed in Ware.

This year the only county offices on the ballot were District Attorney and Register of Probate. The Democratic incumbents in all four counties—Franklin and Hampshire counties share a DA—faced no opposition on the ballot.

The only other race in the 413 was a special election for Franklin County Sheriff. Massachusetts sheriffs serve six-year terms and last appeared on the ballot in 2022. However, Franklin Sheriff Christopher Donelan resigned last year. Under state law, a vacancy in a sheriff’s office triggers a special election at the next regular state election. The governor may make an interim appointment.

Governor Healey had appointed Lori Streeter to the post, who ran unopposed in the Democratic primary to complete Donelan’s term. Two independent candidates challenged her in the general election. According to the Greenfield Recorder, Streeter won about 4 times as many votes as her next competitor. She will serve until the regular sheriff cycle returns to the ballot in 2028.