Democrats in New England are celebrating sweeping gains after Tuesday’s midterm election.
In voting out longtime Republican Sen. Susan Collins and electing Democrat Troy Jackson, Maine voters flipped one of seven seats that will shift power of the U.S. Senate from Republican to Democratic control.
New Hampshire voters elected Democratic congressman Chris Pappas to the Senate over Republican John E. Sununu, holding on to a Democratic seat.
With the reelection of Senators Ed Markey in Massachusetts and Jack Reed in Rhode Island, New England’s entire Senate delegation will consist of Democrats and two independents: Sen. Angus King of Maine and Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont.
A few newcomers in Congress
Voters largely reelected Democratic incumbents in the region’s 21 U.S. House races, but they’re sending a few fresh faces to Washington in January.
Connecticut elected a former mayor of Hartford, Luke Bronin, after he beat 14-term incumbent Rep. John Larson in the Democratic primary.
Massachusetts voters chose Dan Koh, a former staffer in the Biden administration, to replace outgoing U.S. Rep Seth Moulton.
In New Hampshire, Stefany Shaheen won the seat being vacated by Pappas, the congressman who was elected to the Senate.
One of the closest races is yet to be called in Maine, where Democrat Matt Dunlap and Republican Paul LePage ran to replace Democratic Rep. Jared Golden.
Republicans governors reelected
Phil Scott, the Republican governor of Vermont, and Kelly Ayotte, the Republican governor of New Hampshire, both won reelection over their Democratic challengers on Tuesday.
Ayotte was running for her second two-year term. It will be Scott’s sixth term, making him one of the longest-serving governors in Vermont’s history.
Democratic Gov. Ned Lamont of Connecticut easily won his third four-year term. In Massachusetts, Democrat Maura Healy won re-election and will serve another four years as governor.
Maine’s new governor-elect, Democrat Hannah Pingree, is the daughter of longtime U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree and once served as the youngest speaker of the Maine House.
Rhode Island elected Helena Foulkes, who beat the incumbent governor, Dan McKee, in the state’s Democratic primary.
Democratic wins down the ballot
The national blue wave showed up in other New England races.
Vermont’s former Lieutenant Governor Molly Gray, a Democrat, won her seat back after beating the Republican incumbent.
Both chambers of Vermont’s legislature regained Democrat and Progressive supermajorities, and Democrats are poised to expand their majorities in Maine and Connecticut.
In New Hampshire, Democrats appear to have gained significant majorities in that state’s Senate, House of Representatives and Executive Council.
Many ballot questions
Voters across New England answered ballot questions on a wide range of issues, from guns to university upgrades.
In Massachusetts, voters considered a record-tying nine questions. Among other decisions, they rejected efforts to repeal the state’s 2024 gun law and to ban recreational marijuana sales.
Vermont voters approved two amendments to their state constitution related to labor and equal rights protections.
Rhode Island voters weighed in on five bond measures, including a proposal to spend $275 million on construction and renovations at three state colleges and universities. That appears to have passed.
Issues close to home and far away
In Maine, communities voted on local measures like data center bans and needle exchange programs.
In every community in New Hampshire, voters decided whether to cap the property taxes that fund their local public schools.
In Providence, Rhode Island, voters elected David Morales, who at 28 will be the city’s youngest mayor. Voters also approved a measure for the city to divest from “countries and companies profiting from genocide, apartheid, ethnic cleansing, and prolonged military occupation.”
With Democrats taking control of the U.S. House and Senate, some New England lawmakers will soon take leadership roles on some of these same issues at the national level.
Massachusetts Congresswoman Katherine Clark is poised to become House Majority Leader. U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, a Democrat in Connecticut, is looking to become chair again of the powerful House Appropriations Committee. Another congressperson from Connecticut, Jim Himes, is seeking chairmanship of the House Intelligence Committee.
