Around this time two years ago, we lamented the lack of contested races in the upcoming elections for the state Legislature.
State Republican Party Chair Amy Carnevale said then that her party was “laser-focused on our legislative seats in November, building upon the win that we had last year in a special election with Representative Peter Durant, who’s now State Sen. Peter Durant.
“So we’re looking to add to our seats in the Legislature all the while doing what we can to support our federal candidates as well.”
However, on both the state and federal level, Republicans offered little resistance to the Democrats’ dominance.
Even a presidential election couldn’t manage to muster more contested races in the Massachusetts Legislature than two years previously.
The State House News Service reported at the time that two-thirds of all House and Senate districts had only a single declared candidate on the ballot, according to preliminary data from Secretary of State William Galvin’s office.
All 200 seats in the Legislature go up for reelection every two years.
That election cycle featured 104 incumbent representatives and 26 incumbent senators without a declared challenger, an increase over the 92 reps and 16 senators who were the only candidates on the ballot in their districts in 2022.
That meant voters had more than one option on the ballot in only 54 of the 160 House districts and 14 of the 40 Senate districts.
Given the party breakdown on Beacon Hill, Democrats were the overwhelming beneficiaries of that challenger deficit.
And two years later, little has changed.
According to preliminary data from the Secretary of State’s office, approximately 60% of state Legislature candidates will run unopposed.
Twenty-five incumbent senators — 62.5% of the 40-seat chamber — and 91 incumbent representatives — about 57% of the 160 total — should have a stress-free path to reelection, since they face no formal opposition in either the primary or general election.
Primary elections will be held Tuesday, Sept. 1, followed by the general election on Tuesday, Nov. 3.
In the Senate, in addition to the 25 incumbents with no opposition, 13 face some level of competition, with contested races for two open seats, according to the official figures reported by the News Service.
Only four Democratic senators face primary challenges: Sen. William Driscoll in the Norfolk, Plymouth & Bristol District; Sen. Michael Rush in the Norfolk & Suffolk District; Sen. Nick Collins in the First Suffolk District; and Senate President Pro Tempore William Brownsberger in the Suffolk & Middlesex District.
None of the five incumbent Republican senators faces a primary opponent this year, and only Sen. Durant has a Democrat challenger in the general election.
In the House, 91 representatives (81 Democrats, nine Republicans, and Independent Rep. Susannah Whipps) are running unopposed, all but guaranteeing their reelection.
In somewhat of a rarity, Democrats didn’t mount a challenge against nine House Republicans: Reps. Steven Xiarhos of Barnstable, Michael Chaisson of Foxborough, Steven Howitt of Seekonk, Norman Orrall of Lakeville, Todd Smola of Warren, Donald Berthiaume of Spencer, Michael Soter of Bellingham, David Muradian of Grafton, and Hannah Kane of Shrewsbury.
Twenty House incumbents — 19 of them Democrats — face a primary challenge. On the Republican side, only Rep. John Gaskey of Carver has a primary opponent.
Why do Republicans have such a difficult time finding candidates?
It’s all in the numbers that overwhelmingly favor the Democrats — about what you’d expect in this blue state.
The Democrats have super majorities in both the Senate (35-5) and House (132-25), which also has one unenrolled member and two open seats.
However, Democrats share the Republicans’ minority status when it comes to party affiliation.
Two-thirds of the state’s registered voters now identify as unenrolled, compared to 25% Democrats and 8% Republicans.
But Republicans have yet to exploit that supposedly independent majority.
One referendum petition wending its way through the approval process to appear on the November ballot might give the GOP a way to tap into that unenrolled resource.
If the ballot measure creating an all-party state primary should qualify for the November ballot and win the approval of voters, all candidates for a statewide race would appear on a single primary ballot.
The top two vote-getters would then face off in November.
Any voter — no matter the party affiliation — could cast a ballot for the candidate of their choice, as opposed to the current system, in which voters must choose within their registered party, or select one specific party ballot if they’re independent and registered as unenrolled.
Proponents contend that it would create a fairer and more open system.
The question’s supporters point to other states — both red and blue — that already implement all-party primaries, including California, Alaska and Louisiana, each of which has reported an uptick in both election competition and voter participation.
If allowed to just vote for the candidate and not the party that person represents, perhaps more unrolled voters would give Republicans serious consideration.
Of course, the GOP would need to field considerably more candidates than they currently can muster to capitalize at the polls.
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