Election 2018: MA Gov. Charlie Baker, Sen. Elizabeth Warren Win

As election results came in across the Commonwealth, so, too did the victory and concession speeches. Gov. Charlie Baker and Sen. Elizabeth Warren were both declared winners within minutes of the polls' closing at 8 p.m.

"I promise I will never stop working my heart out for you, never," said Warren during her campaign acceptance speech. "It has been a tough two years, but together we have marched, together we have run, together we have persisted," she said. "The House of Representatives, the people's house, is going to do a whole lot more work for the people."

Massachusetts supported ballot measures on gender rights but rejected limits on the number of patients that could be assigned to registered nurses. And Bay State voters, who lean strongly blue, again sent an all-Democratic delegation to the U.S. House, including possible presidential hopeful Rep. Seth Moulton, while Ayanna Pressley became the first African-American congresswoman from Massachusetts.

Secretary of the Commonwealth Bill Galvin also went home happy, after a heated race against Josh Zakim. And by the way, former Gov. Mitt Romney won a U.S. Senate seat in Utah.

Refresh this page as more results come in. And scroll down to check out the live updates on the races.

How Election Day Went In MA

Most polling places across Massachusetts reported smooth sailing during Tuesday's midterm elections. There were reports of minor machine malfunctions in Greater Boston, and one Boston polling place closed briefly after a white powder scare, but those appeared to be the exceptions.

According to poll watchers, voting machines experienced hiccups in Lowell, while others in Boston and Lawrence had to be fixed or replaced, and some voters were turned away rather than being given provisional ballots.

Some 300 volunteers for Lawyers For Civil Rights Boston spread out across the state to help at the polls. The organization activated a hotline just before the polls opened and by 7 p.m. had answered 200 voters calling across the state for help.

Attorney Sophia Hall said the calls varied in degree —from folks calling because they were confused about where to go, to one person called to report a man holding an anti-immigrant sign outside a Beverly polling place that read"Deport immigrants."

Hall said reports have trickled in about broken machines here and there across the state, long lines at Cathedral High School in the South End, and one voting location with no working machines for more than an hour until her group reported it to Boston City Hall.

"As soon as we brought it to their attention they sent someone out there," she said noting as far as she was aware the ballots were still taken, they were just manually counted.

"This year compared to previous years we have seen a significant increase in voter participation that's always a good sign," she said.

But with millions of people voting and that means there are naturally going to be administrative difficulties.

"We see that in the lines, and in the broken machines and in poll workers snapping. We do know that we have had a tremendous amount of volunteers and calls, so people are becoming aware of the resource of election protection, even though this isn't a presidential election," said Hall.

Hall did not say she heard of voters being turned away, but Pam Wilmot, executive director of Common Cause Massachusetts, a lobbying organization said she had.

"We heard of a couple instances of voters being asked to leave," she said.

Officials at Boston City Hall told Patch they had received no such reports. The clerk's offices for Lowell and Lawrence did not respond to request for comment.

According to the Secretary of State's office, the procedure when a machine breaks down is to give the voter a provisional ballot, which will then be placed in a secure spot until they can be fed into the machine.

"Most incidents have been addressed quickly," said Wilmot, calling the breakdowns minor.
Still, she said she was concerned about more problems with machines popping up later in the evening as voter volume increased.

Strong turnout was reported across the nation, where a hard-fought campaign finally ended Tuesday.

Secretary of State William Galvin estimated at least 2.4 million Massachusetts voters would cast ballots this year. Some 585,000 people already had taken advantage of the state's early voting period, which ran from Oct. 22 to Nov. 2. Galvin's office told Patch that in-person voting was up this year over previous midterm elections.

If Galvin's prediction comes true, turnout would rival the record midterm in 1990, when 2.42 million Commonwealth voters cast ballots. The 2014 midterms saw 2.1 million votes cast, while 2.3 million came out in 2010.

By 7 p.m. in Beverly 16,663 people — or 59 percent of the 28,427 registered voters —had cast ballots.

At 4:30 p.m., Marlborough's Ward 1 Precinct 2 had 680 votes, but it didn't account for roughly 50 that still had to be hand-counted, as the machine went down for about an hour around 3 p.m.

Precinct warden Tim Collins said turnout appeared to be on par with the 2016 election, and as in a number of other municipalities, the morning began with a long line.

"It's such a lengthy ballot that people are taking their time, so there is a bit of a wait, but no one is angry," he said.

Jeffrey Corkins, 18, said this was his first election, and it felt like his generation has been courted specifically to show up to the polls.

"There has been a push for the younger generation," he told Patch. "In the past, I don't think younger people had initiative or were really sure what to do. My generation is understanding that we have to care how our lives will be. We might as well vote."

At the Nazzaro Community Center in the North End of Boston, precincts saw steady voting beginning in the morning, with a line out the door, according to poll workers.

By 2:20 p.m. more than 600 people had voted. Students from Wellesley High School were taking exit poll interviews for a class project. In a span of 10 minutes almost everyone they asked appeared to participate.

What's going on with the national election? Will the Democrats take the House? Can the Republicans hang on to the Senate?

In Dedham the biggest issue was ballots getting wet because of the rain. Town Clerk Paul Munchbach told Patch he was expecting 10,000 voters, about 60 percent of registered voters. Munchbach said he expected an after work rush. Turnout, he said, has been busier than it was in 2014, but less busy than in 2010.

At noon, 1,420 of the 3,395 registered voters had cast ballots in one precinct in Framingham.

"It has been busy all day, from the get-go. We had a lot of early ballots in this precinct," Mary Ann Moore, the precinct warden, said.

In addition to the three state ballot questions, Framingham is set to decide on money for the design of a new school and that extra question was what had many voters out.

"It's important to be part of the discussion and the decision-making," Lisa Flannery told Patch as her daughter Charlotte Flannery, 7, stood nearby.

In 35 places cities the country, including Malden and Lowell, the U.S. Justice Department announced that it would monitor voting. Both cities are among 12 in the state with large populations of non-English speakers that the federal government requires to have ballots available in several languages.

The results chart below will be updated frequently after the polls close at 8 p.m.; refresh the page to see the latest figures.

Here's a closer look at some of today's races:

GOVERNOR: Charlie Baker Keeps his job.

The Massachusetts gubernatorial race is a political paradox.

The Democratic challenger was a heavy underdog against the Republican incumbent, despite running in true-blue Massachusetts. And while the Republican is one of the most popular governors in the country, he is held in higher regard by Democrats than in his own party.

Nonetheless, the race between Gov. Charlie Baker and Jay Gonzalez was more about issues than about narrative - especially when compared to the U.S. Senate race.

"They want us back to work in the morning and, you know what, we're going to be there first thing working for the people of the Commonwealth," Baker said in his victory speech.

Gonzalez, for his part, thanked Baker for his civility.

"It's not exactly the result we were hoping for, but we gave them one hell of a run, didn't we?" said Gonzalez in his concession speech just before 9:30 p.m.

Gonzalez gained a foothold against Baker in their second debate, pouncing on the governor's wavering over whether he would vote for GOP U.S. Senate candidate Geoff Diehl, a discipline of President Trump. Baker told reporters after the debate that he misspoke and would vote for Diehl, as he is pledged to support the GOP ticket.

U.S. SENATE, Elizabeth Warren keeps her seat

No Massachusetts state government race has been in the national news recently more than the tussle over Elizabeth Warren's U.S. Senate seat, though not necessarily for its competitive nature.

Warren, a fiery and always-willing sparring partner for President Donald Trump, said in September that she is going to take "a hard look" at running for president in 2020, confirming long-held suspicions. But before she has an opportunity to take on Trump for the White House, she'll need to fend off one of his disciples, Geoff Diehl, to stay in the Senate.

Diehl during his concession speech just after 9 p.m. thanked his suporters.

"Unfortunately we came up short on this final goal, but I am proud of the honest and principled campaign that we ran," he said.

A third candidate, Shiva Ayyadurai, is running as an Independent. Ayyadurai is perhaps best known for claiming he invented email, one of many assorted controversies surrounding him.

U.S. CONGRESS, Dems sweep House races

Democrats maintained their hold on Massachusetts Tuesday, winning the five House races in which they faced challengers. Incumbents Katherine Clark, Seth Moulton, Bill Keating and Jim McGovern won their bids for re-election, while newcomer Lori Trahan was elected to succeed five-term congresswoman Nikki Tsongas in the 3rd Congressional District.

STATE LEGISLATURE

Democrats now hold large majorities in both houses of the legislature, formally known as the General Court. For information on key races for the 40-member State Senate, which Democrats control 31-7 (there are two vacancies), check back here; the same for information on the main contests for the House of Representatives, where Democrats hold 117 of 160 seats.

• MA State House Election Results
• MA State Senate Results

BALLOT ISSUES

Voters will be asked to decide Tuesday on three statewide issues: a limit on the number of patients a registered nurse could be required to tend; a measure to preserve recent laws offering the LGBTQ community against discrimination; and creation of a citizens commission to propose an amendment to the U.S. Constitution allowing regulation of political spending by corporations. Details of all three measures are here. And results are coming in here: Who won on the ballot measures?

If you encountered any difficulties while voting — unusually long lines at the polling place, insufficient ballots, harassment or intimidation by overzealous advocates as you entered — tell Patch about it and we'll investigate it with our nonprofit partners at ProPublica.

Photos of election day polls by Jenna Fisher/ Patch Staff

Photo of Warren: Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., gives her victory speech at a Democratic election watch party in Boston, Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2018. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)
Pasted image at 2018-11-06, 11:55 PM

-Jenna Fisher, Charlene Arsenault and Jimmy Bentley contributed to this article.