Politics & Government

Ballot Question In Doubt As MA Democrats Sweep To Victories: 2026 Elections

While most candidate races were called early, a ballot question on single-family homes reversed course in the tallies overnight.

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There was little suspense in the vast majority of Massachusetts candidate races on Tuesday night — with Democrats largely sweeping to victory in statewide races.

But there was drama that developed overnight surrounding one of the record-tying nine ballot initiatives. Question 7 — which would allow single-family home development on street-facing lots as small as 5,000 square feet — went from appearing to pass with a comfortable margin Tuesday night to being in danger of going down to defeat by Wednesday morning.

As of about 11 p.m. on Tuesday, those in favor of the question had about 54 percent of the vote to 46 percent for those opposed. But as vote totals came in later in the night from more rural areas of the state — with cities and towns that have up to 2 acres or more as a minimum for parcel development — that total shrank to the point where "No" voters had a lead of about 20,000 votes as of mid-morning on Wednesday.

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Question 7 — Single-Family Lot Sizes (Associated Press, 10 a.m. Wednesday)

  • Yes 1,118,084 (49.5 percent)
  • No 1,138,519 (50.5 percent)

A "Yes" vote on Question 7 would allow single-family homes to be built on any lot with at least 5,000 square feet, which has at least 50 feet of land bordering a street and which has access to public water and sewer.

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Proponents of the question argue that many cities and towns have prohibitive restrictions against new construction and that universal rules are needed to meet housing demand and stabilize costs for first-time and senior homebuyers.

Those against the question argue that it is yet another state mandate that takes control away from municipalities and does little to ensure that housing development is more affordable for those in need.

In the rest of the ballot questions, Question 1 on the public records law passed with 86 percent approval, Question 2 on allowing collective bargaining for public defenders was favored by nearly a two-thirds margin, Question 3 on eliminating party-based primaries failed by about 500,000 votes (61 percent to 39 percent), and Question 4 on same-day voter registration passed by about 300,000 votes (56 percent to 44 percent).

Question 5 on modifying the state tax revenue limit and issuing automatic refunds to residents when those limits are exceeded appeared to fail in a close vote by about 100,000 (52 percent to 48 percent); Question 6 on the nature fund through sales tax on sporting goods passed by about 500,000 votes; Question 8 on repealing recreational pot shops failed overwhelmingly by nearly 1.2 million votes; and Question 9 on rolling back stricter gun control laws was soundly defeated by more than a 2-to-1 margin.

In statewide races, it was a night of easy victories for Gov. Maura Healey, U.S. Sen. Ed Markey, and statewide officials as part of the broader national Democratic "Blue Wave," according to unofficial AP results.

Governor

  • 1,472,625 Maura Healey
  • 817,553 Mike Minogue
  • 80,259 Andrea James

U.S. Senate

  • 1,499,473 Ed Markey
  • 762,795 John Deaton
  • 54,455 Shiva Ayyadurai
  • 52,531 Joe Tache

Attorney General Andrea Campbell, Secretary of State Bill Galvin, State Treasurer Deb Goldberg and State Auditor Diana DiZoglio all won their re-election bids with convincing margins.

There will be one new Democrat in the U.S. House of Representatives as former Andover Select Board member and Biden Administration official Dan Koh beat Essex attorney and U.S. Army veteran Micah Q. Jones in the race to replace Seth Moulton as the 6th Congressional District representative.

6th Congressional District (AP unofficial)

  • 193,729 Dan Koh
  • 111,362 Micah Q. Jones

Each of the other eight Massachusetts Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives was re-elected either running unopposed or by earning at least 60 percent of the vote.

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