There were no surprises when the results of the Sept. 9 primary began scrolling across the giant television displays and tiny smart phone screens at the Fairmount Copley Plaza Hotel. Attorney General Martha Coakley’s 20-point lead in the polls had shrunk to just six points, but it was enough to defeat Democratic rival and State Treasurer Steve Grossman.
Coakley won 228,000 of 539,000 votes cast statewide in the gubernatorial race. While her vote total exceeded the entire turnout in the Republican primary — 156,000 — Republican nominee Charlie Baker is expected to draw votes from many Democrats and independent voters in the Nov. 4 election. Coakley won with just 42 percent of the Democratic vote.
As the New Hope Baptist Church band broke into the Kool & the Gang anthem Celebration Tuesday night, a stream of Democratic bigwigs took to the stage in the main ballroom, warming up for Coakley’s victory speech. With just eight weeks to mobilize a voter base widely seen as disengaged, the party leaders emphasized the hard work before them.
Coakley campaign outreach coordinator Darryl Smith checks vote tallies with volunteers Marcia Riddick and Jose Edwards at the Fairmont Copley Plaza. (Banner photo)
“Fifty-six days from today, Martha Coakley will be elected to be the next governor of Massachusetts,” former Massachusetts Democratic Party Chairman John Walsh said. “We’re going to do it in the grassroots, one-to-one, neighbor-to-neighbor, face-to-face.”
Two major players in the Democrats’ voter mobilization plan were on the stage with Coakley: SEIU 1199 Executive Vice President Veronica Turner and SEIU 32BJ area leader Roxana Rivera.
Turner, who gave the opening speech Tuesday night, told the Banner that Coakley’s success will hinge on her ability to mobilize disaffected voters.
“She needs to hone her messaging around an economy that works for all,” Turner said. “She has to do a lot of work around energizing her base, and she has to highlight the differences she has with Charlie Baker.”
The issues 1199 will be highlighting during the campaign include the candidates’ stands on health care, earned sick time, the minimum wage and universal early education.
Turner, whose union endorsed Coakley early on, said more than 200 1199 volunteers worked on behalf of her campaign on primary day in Boston, Springfield, Worcester, Lawrence, Fall River and New Bedford. With an endorsement of the larger SEIU State Council, 40 SEIU volunteers will be working on the campaign six days a week, she said. Additionally, the union will hire outreach workers to fire up the Democratic base.
In her victory speech, Coakley pledged to run a strong grassroots campaign.
“I promise you this — just as I promised when this campaign began: No one will work harder, make more phone calls, shake more hands, and knock on more doors than I will,” she said. “There is too much at stake.”
While Turner, Rivera and Gov. Deval Patrick added some color to the stage, there were few people of color in the room at the Fairmount Copley Plaza celebration. But people of color will likely be a central factor in the gubernatorial race if Coakley hopes to win, notes at-large City Councilor Ayanna Pressley.
“Democrats can’t win without the black vote,” Pressley said.
While voters in the predominantly black and Latino wards 12 and 14 turned out at the city average of 12 percent, voters in those two wards supported Coakley by 64 percent and 72 percent, respectively. City wide, Coakley won 47 percent of the vote. In the Nov. 4 election against Baker, black and Latino voters could be even more pivotal. In the 2010 U.S. Senate special election Coakley lost to Republican Scott Brown, Coakley won 68 percent of the city-wide vote and 95 percent of the vote in Wards 12 and 14.
Many saw Coakley’s loss as a direct result of her campaign and the Democratic Party’s failure to engage the black and Latino voters who make up the party’s most loyal voting bloc.
Party officials seem determined not to repeat that mistake. The Sunday after the primary, Democratic activists held an event at the party’s headquarters to raise funds for get-out-the-vote efforts in the black community.
Observers say Coakley’s field organization will be the key factor in the race against Baker. Boston Mayor Martin Walsh said the advantage in the ground game goes to Coakley.
“There’s no doubt she has the best field organization in the race,” he said.
Get-out-the-vote efforts aside, Coakley and Baker will have to engage black voters directly to secure victory in the November election, Pressley said.
“Candidates have to show up and meet people where they’re at,” she said. “Whether it’s at the Dudley bus depot or at church, they want to see you. They want you to speak to their issues.”
Coakley’s victory against two male challengers in some ways set the stage for a woman-dominated Democratic ticket for state-wide offices. Former Assistant Attorney General Maura Healey secured 62 percent of the vote in a hard-fought race against former State Sen. Warren Tolman for attorney general. Former Brookline Selectwoman Deb Goldberg won 43 percent of the vote in a three-way race for treasurer. State Auditor Suzanne Bump ran unchallenged for Auditor.
The sole male on the Democratic ticket for constitutional office, Steve Kerrigan, prevailed with 51 percent of the vote in a three-way race.
