Republican wave sweeps U.S., Baker wins Mass. by narrow margin

The Republican wave that swept national politics has extended into Massachusetts, propelling GOP candidate Charlie Baker into the State House, despite a spirited campaign by Democrats to put Attorney General Martha Coakley in the governor’s office.

At the national level, Republicans gained seven Senate seats, making them the majority in that chamber, and picked up 12 additional seats in the House, giving them majorities in both chambers.

At the state level, Baker beat Coakley with 48 percent of the vote to Coakley’s 47 percent, with a margin of little more than 30,000 votes out of nearly 2 million cast. Aided by a large get-out-the-vote effort, Coakley handily won Boston and other Massachusetts cities by more than a 2-1 margin, but lost in the suburbs, the South Shore, the south eastern part of the state, the North Shore and Worcester County.

“It’s been a long, longride, and it’s been bumpy at times, but we always knew that out vision to make this state great and improve our economy, to close that achievment gap in education and bring a better fiscal discipline and balance to Beacon Hill and bi-partisanship that so many people responded to over course of this campaign was the right way to go,” Baker said to a crowd of supporters at the Seaport Hotel. “Tonight the voters said yes.”

Democratic candidates handily won the other constitutional offices in Massachusetts: Maura Healey won the race for attorney general, William Galvin was re-elected secretary of state, Deborah Goldberg won the race for treasurer, and Suzanne Bump was re-elected as auditor.

In other races, Republican state Rep. Vinny deMacedo won the Plymouth and Barnstable Senate district formerly held by outgoing Senate President Therese Murray, becoming the first Cape Verdean American elected to the Massachusetts state Senate. Lawrence state Rep. Marcos Devers fended off a challenge from former Lawrence Mayor and state Rep. William Lantigua.

A ballot question mandating earned sick time for Massachusetts employees won, as did a question that bars the state from indexing the gas tax to the rate of inflation. Ballot questions banning casino gambling and extending the bottle bill to plastic water bottles both lost.