Healey Wins Second Term as Mass. Voters Keep Legal Cannabis and the 2024 Gun Law

Gov. Maura Healey won a second four-year term on Tuesday, Nov. 3, defeating Republican Mike Minogue, and U.S. Sen. Ed Markey won a third term over Republican John Deaton, the Associated Press projected. In the Massachusetts election results for the state’s nine ballot questions, the AP projected that voters rejected repealing legal recreational marijuana, kept the state’s 2024 gun law, turned down a switch to all-party primaries and approved expanding the public records law. Several questions were still uncalled early Wednesday, Nov. 4.

2nd term for Healey, AP projects · 76% No on Question 8 with 48% counted (Reason) · 69% Yes on Question 9 with 49% counted (GBH, AP data) · 80%+ Yes on Question 1 (GBH)

Healey and Markey win

The AP called the governor’s race just as polls closed at 8 p.m., WBUR reported. CNN projected Healey the winner at 8:06 p.m., according to GBH News, which reported that her election-night party was at the Fairmont Copley Plaza and that Markey also drew cheers there when CNN projected his win. Neither outlet had published final vote shares by early Wednesday.

Minogue, an Army veteran and former medical-device company CEO, according to GBH News, put $19.5 million of his own money into the race, a record for a statewide candidate in Massachusetts, WBUR reported. Healey, first elected in 2022 with 63.5% of the vote over Republican Geoff Diehl, according to WBUR, ran again with Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll. Our final pre-election look at the race is Healey up 19 in the final poll.

Markey, who beat U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton by nearly 30 points in the September Democratic primary, defeated Deaton, a personal injury attorney and former Marine, the AP projected, The Boston Globe reported.

Ballot questions: what passed and what didn’t

These calls are as of early Wednesday morning. Results are unofficial until the state certifies them.

• Question 1 (public records): Approved, AP projects. The Yes side had more than 80% of the vote as of 12:14 a.m., GBH News reported.
• Question 2 (union rights for public defender agency staff): Approved, AP projects, with Yes above 60% early Wednesday, according to GBH News.
• Question 3 (all-party, top-two primaries): Rejected. The AP called it early Wednesday, WBUR reported; No led 61% to 39% with 46% counted at 11:45 p.m., per GBH News. Supporters issued a statement Tuesday night acknowledging the loss, according to WBUR.
• Question 6 (nature conservation fund): Not called as of 1 a.m. Yes was above 60% with about 56% counted, and supporters declared victory, GBH News reported.
• Question 8 (repeal recreational marijuana): Rejected, AP projects, per GBH News. About 76% voted No with 48% of ballots counted, Reason reported. In 2016, 54% of voters backed legalization, the magazine noted.
• Question 9 (keep the 2024 gun law): Approved, so the law stays, the AP called, WBUR reported. Yes had 69% with 49% counted, per AP figures cited by GBH News. Ruth Zakarin, chair of the Yes campaign, said voters gave “a resounding yes to protecting this legislation,” WBUR reported.
• Questions 4 (Election Day registration), 5 (state revenue limit and rebate) and 7 (single-family homes on smaller lots): The Boston Report had not confirmed a call for these questions from the AP or another named outlet as of this update.

What a Yes or No vote does on each question is explained in our guide to all nine ballot questions.

What happens next

Local election offices continue counting mail ballots: those postmarked by Nov. 3 count if they arrive within three days, according to the Secretary of the Commonwealth. The state certifies results weeks after Election Day. We will add calls for the remaining questions and the nine U.S. House seats to our Massachusetts election tracker as the AP or other named outlets make them. For control of Congress and races nationwide, see our national election tracker.

Sources

• WBUR: Healey wins second term, defeating GOP challenger Mike Minogue
• GBH News: Healey wins second term as Mass. governor
• The Boston Globe: Ed Markey wins third term in US Senate, AP projects
• GBH News: Recreational cannabis to stay legal; public records law to expand in Mass., AP calls
• WBUR: Question 3: Mass. voters opt to keep partisan state primaries
• WBUR: Question 9: Mass. votes to keep major gun safety law
• Reason: Massachusetts voters overwhelmingly reject an attempt to repeal marijuana legalization

Additional sources

• MassLive (via Yahoo News): Voters reject Ballot Question 8
• Secretary of the Commonwealth: Voting by Mail