Several states faced crucial and close elections this fall as swing states had senatorial and gubernatorial elections. In Massachusetts, the 2022 State Election on Nov. 8 decided the governor, secretary of state, attorney general and many other key positions. Although the current governor, Charlie Baker, is a Republican, Democrats swept all of the major positions including governor this election.

In Massachusetts, Democrat Maura Healey defeated Republican Geoff Diehl to become the state’s first female and first openly gay governor-elect. Many prominent Massachusetts government officials including Senators Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey, as well as Boston Mayor Michelle Wu endorsed Healey. Diehl on the other hand had many republican congressmen’s backing and an endorsement from former President Donald Trump.

Although Healey and Governor Baker belong to opposing political parties, the two are more alike than they are different. First, both Baker and Healey went to Harvard University where the two played basketball. Furthermore, both share many goals for Massachusetts and have already begun to plan the transition. Healey plans to further expand education opportunities to everyone as well as expand opportunities for housing and employment. She also supports reproductive freedoms and wants to increase healthcare affordability. In all these efforts, lieutenant governor Kim Driscoll will be by Healey’s side.

On the night of Nov. 8, just as the polls closed, Healey was announced the winner of the gubernatorial race. Unlike other states whose senator and gubernatorial races were too close to call for days after, and even a run-off in Georgia, Healey took over 63% of the vote. Additionally, many other positions with substantial leads were decided on Tuesday night. For attorney general, Democrat Andrea Campbell defeated James McMahon. Also, incumbent William Galvin remains secretary of state and incumbent Deborah Goldberg remains trea-
surer. The closest race was at auditor, but Democrat Diana Dizoglio pulled through in the end.

Among state positions up for election, there were also four questions on that ballot this November. Most of these questions took a longer amount of time to decide the outcome as question two received over 70% of the vote, but the other questions won by less than a 10% margin. In the end, three questions were decided “yes” and one question was decided “no.”

As the 2022 election season culminates, and the debate over the power of U.S. Congress comes into question, Massachusetts maintains their foothold as a blue state led by a Democrat as governor.