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Two months after Marblehead picked its hometown congressman over U.S. Sen. Edward J. Markey, the town gave Markey, Gov. Maura Healey and Democrat Dan Koh a larger share of its vote than the state or the congressional district gave them.
Markey, who lost Marblehead to U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton 2,946 votes to 1,917 in the Sept. 1 Democratic primary, according to certified results, won 6,916 votes in town Tuesday, or 65.3 percent, to 63.8 percent statewide. Healey took 6,845 votes, or 63.9 percent, to 62.7 percent statewide. Koh, of Andover, won 6,874 votes in town, or 65.6 percent, to 63.4 percent across the 6th Congressional District.
On the nine binding ballot questions, the town’s winning side matched the state’s seven times. Where they parted, Marblehead rejected smaller lots for single-family homes while the statewide count sat tied, kept the 2024 gun law by almost nine points more than the state did and gave less support than the state to letting public defender agency employees unionize.
All Marblehead numbers are unofficial, come from the town clerk’s office and cover all six precincts plus the early and mail ballots counted election night. Shares exclude blank ballots. State figures are from the Associated Press, with about 80 percent of the expected vote counted statewide and 77 percent in the congressional district. At least 10,808 ballots were cast in town, or 63.3 percent of 17,084 registered voters, with mail ballots still to be added Friday.
The AP called the Senate and governor’s races at 8:01 p.m. In Boston, Markey told supporters that “Donald Trump is the most corrupt, the most desperate person to ever lead our country,” WHDH reported.
Koh carried all six precincts against Republican Micah Quinney Jones of Essex, who won 3,578 votes in Marblehead, or 34.2 percent, to 36.6 percent districtwide. Koh, who lost a 2018 congressional primary to Lori Trahan by 145 votes, will be the first Asian American to represent Massachusetts in Congress.
“I think people are looking for fighters right now,” Koh told GBH.
Farther down the ballot, State Auditor Diana DiZoglio drew 8,059 votes in town, or 84.5 percent, against Libertarian Al Ozonoff, the largest share for any contested candidate in Marblehead.
“Having a local candidate aroused interest early, and that interest remained until this election,” said Anne Gugino Carrigan, chair of the Marblehead Democratic Town Committee.
Where the town parted from the state
Question 9 opened the widest gap of the nine. Marblehead voted 8,105 to 2,532 to keep the 2024 firearms law, or 76.2 percent, to 67.5 percent statewide, a difference of 8.7 points. The law sets 21 as the age to own semiautomatic rifles and shotguns and penalizes untraceable “ghost guns.” A No vote would have repealed it. Yes ran from 75.2 percent in Precinct 5 to 77.7 percent in Precinct 2.
On Question 7, which would let single-family homes go up on lots of at least 5,000 square feet with public water and sewer, Marblehead voted No 5,667 to 4,730, or 54.5 percent. No carried every precinct, from 50.7 percent in Precinct 2 to 57.8 percent in Precinct 5. Statewide the question stood at 50.0 percent each way, Yes ahead by 195 votes, with no AP call.
Question 2, which lets employees of the Committee for Public Counsel Services, the state’s public defender agency, bargain collectively, passed in town 6,189 to 4,150, or 59.9 percent. That was 4.6 points below the state’s 64.5 percent, the only question on which Marblehead trailed the state’s winning side by more than a point.
On Question 5, which would change the state’s tax revenue limit and the rebates it triggers, Marblehead voted No 5,627 to 4,669, or 54.7 percent. Statewide, No led with 52.5 percent and a margin of 107,101 votes, also uncalled.
Elsewhere the town followed the state. It voted 9,140 to 1,352, or 87.1 percent, to open the Legislature and the governor’s office to the public records law, against 86.1 percent statewide. DiZoglio campaigned for the question.
“It’s a huge, huge win for Massachusetts,” DiZoglio told GBH.
Marblehead rejected the repeal of recreational marijuana sales 8,208 to 2,474, or 76.8 percent No, to 75.8 percent statewide, and top-two primaries 6,628 to 3,882, or 63.1 percent No, to 61.2 percent. It backed Election Day registration 6,048 to 4,439, or 57.7 percent, to 56.9 percent statewide, and the Nature for All conservation fund 6,321 to 4,051, or 60.9 percent, to 61.2 percent.
On all nine binding questions, the winning side in town carried every precinct.
Precinct 2 and Precinct 4
Precinct 2 was the most Democratic in all three top races, giving Markey 69.6 percent, Healey 68.0 percent and Koh 70.5 percent. Precinct 4 was the least, at 62.6 percent, 60.4 percent and 62.4 percent.
The questions follow the same seam. Precinct 4 gave top-two primaries their best showing in town, 41.0 percent; voted No on the tax-cap change by only 50.1 percent; and gave the public defender union its weakest Yes, 55.9 percent, against 65.6 percent in Precinct 2.
Precinct 4 was also the one precinct to vote against Question 10, a nonbinding instruction to the district’s state representative to file a carbon fee on fossil fuels, at 50.9 percent No. Townwide the advisory question passed 4,936 to 4,408, or 52.8 percent, and drew 1,538 blank ballots, the most of any question.
Three in 10 left it blank
Five races had one name each, and about three in 10 Marblehead ballots skipped them. Blanks ran from 3,086 in the state representative race to 3,422 for register of probate, or 28.6 to 31.7 percent of 10,808 ballots.
State Rep. Jennifer Armini of Marblehead drew the most votes of the five, 7,583. Governor’s Councillor Terrence W. Kennedy, whom Marblehead voted against in the September primary, drew 7,319 votes and 3,355 blanks.
Mail ballots postmarked by Nov. 3 that reach the Town Clerk’s office in Abbot Hall by 5 p.m. Friday, Nov. 6, will be counted then, and the town certifies its results by Nov. 18. Koh takes office in January.
Statewide, Question 7 remains the closest of the nine. Marblehead’s 5,667 No votes are already in a count that had Yes ahead by 195, and ballots still arriving in town halls through Friday go into it too.
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