Somerville voters gave the statewide Democratic ticket its heaviest margins in the region on November 3, sent two sitting city councilors to the State House, rejected the marijuana sales ban in Question 8 by nearly nine to one and said no to both the single-primary Question 3 and the revenue-cap Question 5, according to the unofficial results the Elections Department posted at somervillema.gov/votesomerville. The city says the results are unofficial until certified and that official results typically follow two to three weeks after election day.
In the Senate race, Edward J. Markey received 26,392 votes to 2,578 for John Deaton, 395 for Shiva Ayyadurai and 2,368 for Joe Tache, with 74 write-ins and 459 blanks. Tache’s Somerville total, nearly as large as Deaton’s, was by far his strongest showing among the four towns whose results are in; in Melrose he drew 239 votes and in Lynnfield 52. Governor Maura Healey and Lieutenant Governor Kim Driscoll won 27,378 votes to 2,857 for Minogue and Oliver and 1,517 for James and Kittredge. Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell received 28,493 to 2,853 for Michael C. Walsh; Secretary of State William Francis Galvin 28,973 to 2,247 for Anne R. Brensley; Treasurer Deborah B. Goldberg 27,634 to 3,291 for Elizabeth Dionne; and Auditor Dianna DiZoglio 28,403 to 1,913 for Al Ozonoff. Representative Ayanna S. Pressley, unopposed in the Seventh Congressional District, received 28,320 votes with 609 write-ins and 3,337 blanks.
Two councilors to the House
Somerville sends parts of itself to three House districts, and in two of them the winner sits on the City Council. Councilor-at-Large Wilfred N. Mbah, unopposed in the 34th Middlesex district, which Somerville shares with Medford, received 6,968 Somerville votes, with 138 write-ins and 1,234 blanks; in Medford he received 5,797. Ward 3 Councilor Ben Ewen-Campen, unopposed in the 27th Middlesex district, received 17,458 votes with 237 write-ins and 2,494 blanks. Both took part in the council’s October 22 meeting less than two weeks before the election, Mbah as a sponsor of the artificial intelligence ordinance and the combined sewer overflow resolution, Ewen-Campen as chair of the Land Use Committee. In the 26th Middlesex district, shared with Cambridge, Representative Mike Connolly received 3,187 Somerville votes. Senator Erika Uyterhoeven, unopposed in the Second Middlesex Senate district, received 27,389 votes, with 571 write-ins and 4,306 blanks. Governor’s Councillor Terrence W. Kennedy had 27,024, District Attorney Marian T. Ryan 27,212, and Register of Probate Tara E. DeCristofaro beat Tara Martorella 26,681 to 1,692.
The ballot questions
The Somerville results page lists nine questions, each with a one-line description in the city’s own words. Question 1, “applying public records law to the Legislature and Governor’s office,” passed 28,987 to 2,522, with 757 blanks. Question 2, “union rights for the state’s public defenders,” passed 27,188 to 4,138. Question 3, “replacing party primaries with a single all-party primary,” failed 9,815 to 21,692, 31 to 69 percent. Question 4, “should voters be allowed to register on election day,” passed 26,846 to 4,723. Question 5, which the city described as “making automatic tax refunds more frequent and less predictable,” failed 7,476 to 23,648, 24 to 76 percent, the city’s most lopsided no. Question 6, “an earmark for conservation and recreation,” passed 23,168 to 7,905. Question 7, “overriding local zoning to increase home construction,” passed 23,607 to 7,500. Question 8, “rolling back marijuana legalization,” failed 3,821 to 28,022, 12 to 88 percent. Question 9, “keep or repeal the 2024 gun control law,” passed 28,074 to 3,730, with a yes vote keeping the law.
The margins in percentages
Measured against the votes cast in each race, Healey and Driscoll took about 86 percent of the governor’s vote in Somerville, Markey about 83 percent of the Senate vote, Campbell about 91 percent for attorney general, Galvin about 93 percent for secretary of state, Goldberg about 89 percent for treasurer and DiZoglio about 94 percent for auditor, the only statewide candidate to clear nine in ten. Tache’s 2,368 votes were about 7 percent of the Senate vote, more than Deaton’s share in no other town with posted results. The number of ballots cast is not stated on the page, but the Senate race, with 32,266 votes, write-ins and blanks combined, gives the rough size of the electorate that turned out; Somerville’s registered voter count will appear with the certified results.
How the city’s districts fall
Somerville’s 7 wards are divided among the 26th, 27th and 34th Middlesex House districts, which is why the results list three state representative races and why the vote totals in each are far smaller than the citywide races. The 27th, Ewen-Campen’s district, is the largest Somerville piece, with 20,189 votes, write-ins and blanks combined; the 34th, Mbah’s, includes 8,340 Somerville ballots plus the Medford precincts, and the 26th, Connolly’s, 3,737 Somerville ballots plus his Cambridge base. All three were unopposed on the November ballot, so each contest’s only variable was the number of voters who left it blank: 12 percent in the 27th, 15 percent in the 34th and 13 percent in the 26th.
Where Somerville differed
Set against the other three towns whose clerks have posted results, Somerville’s yes on Question 7, the zoning question, was the strongest at 76 percent; Medford voters approved it 62 to 38 and Melrose 56 to 44, while Lynnfield rejected it 36 to 64. Somerville’s 88 percent against the marijuana ban also led the group; Medford was 80 percent against, Melrose 79 and Lynnfield 67. On Question 5, Somerville’s 76 percent no compares with 62 percent no in Medford, 61 in Melrose and a 57 percent yes in Lynnfield. The city’s results page does not list the number of ballots cast or turnout, so those figures will come with certification.
What comes next
The Elections Department notes that the state’s ElectionStats archive carries only certified results, which arrive two to three weeks after the election. The two House winners who currently serve on the council will take office with the new Legislature in January; the Somerville Times reported on November 3 that a candidate has already announced for the Ward 3 council seat. Statewide outcomes are certified by the Secretary of the Commonwealth and are not asserted here.
The city’s unofficial results are here and the preliminary totals PDF is here.
