Though Cambridge’s vote count from the Tuesday general election wasn’t available until around 3:30 a.m. Wednesday, there wasn’t much about it that was in doubt: The blue wave that rocked the country and gave Democrats control of Congress, as well as governorships and other surprise wins, was more like a placid pond here. Somerville got a reminder when it reported election results 45 minutes after polls closed at 8 p.m.
September party primaries had decided many legislative seats, making the most exciting votes in Tuesday’s general election for nine statewide ballot questions. There, initiatives made it possible that gun control, the cannabis industry and Massachusetts’ party primaries could be overturned.
In Cambridge and Somerville, those outcomes all played out to keep the status quo. According to unofficial results from election commissions (and with state figures from The Associated Press), voters opted to:
Keep gun controls in place by 90 percent in Cambridge; and 88 percent in Somerville. The state overall was weaker on this, with 68 percent of voters in Massachusetts’ 351 cities and towns supporting the measure.
Not dismantle the cannabis industry by 89 percent in Somerville; and 82 percent in Cambridge. Statewide, 76 percent of voters supported the cannabis industry.
Not adopt the so-called “jungle primaries” backed by private equity investors by 71 percent in Somerville; and 63 percent in Cambridge. Statewide, 61 percent of voters wanted to keep party primaries.
The ballot question with the tightest margins was about allowing smaller lots for single-family homes – an effort to build more. While 77 percent of Somerville voters supported this measure and 71 percent of voters in Cambridge, where the same 5,000-square-foot-minimum lot size had been adopted in 2025’s multifamily zoning law, statewide this was a tougher sell. As of 4 a.m. Wednesday, with two-thirds of ballots counted, support and opposition were tied perfectly at 50 percent.
In voting on other ballot questions, expansion of public records law won with 93 percent of the vote in Somerville and 90 percent in Cambridge, compared with 86 percent statewide; allowing state public defenders to unionize by 88 percent in Somerville and 84 percent in Cambridge, compared with 64 percent statewide; allowing Election Day voter registration by 86 percent in Somerville and 83 percent in Cambridge, compared with 57 percent statewide; keeping current state tax revenue limits by 77 percent in Somerville and 74 percent in Cambridge, compared with a far weaker 52 percent statewide; and creating a nature conservation fund by 76 percent in Somerville and 73 percent in Cambridge, compared with 61 percent statewide.
Predictably, Democratic governor Maura Healey won reelection over Republican Michael Minogue with 89 percent of the vote in Cambridge and 86 percent in Somerville, compared with 63 percent statewide.
Democrat Ed Markey was returned to the U.S. Senate with 87 percent of the vote in Cambridge and 82 percent in Somerville, compared with 64 percent statewide.
Democratic attorney general Andrea Joy Campbell got 92 percent of the vote in Cambridge and 91 percent in Somerville, compared with 68 percent statewide.
And Democrats down-ballot had wins too: William Francis Galvin for secretary of state with 94 percent in Cambridge and 92 percent in Somerville; Deborah Goldberg for treasurer with 89 percent of the vote in Somerville and Cambridge; and Diana DeZoglio for auditor with 94 percent in Cambridge and 93 percent in Somerville.
Cambridge had a single legislative contest in this general election after all others were settled in party primaries: Democratic state senator Will Brownsberger, who in September beat first-time candidate Daniel Lander by 35 votes in a recount, on Tuesday faced conservative Brandon Wood of Watertown in his bid to claim the Suffolk and Middlesex seat. Brownsberger beat Wood handily in Cambridge with 93 percent of the vote.
Somerville saw a race for register of probate that Tara DiCristofaro won with 94 percent of the vote.
Turnout in Cambridge was an estimated 53 percent, according to the city’s election commissioners, with 37,792 casting ballots out of 71,662 people registered to vote. Turnout in Somerville was an estimated 40 percent, according to commissioners there, with 22,371 going to the polls out of 56,008 people registered to vote.
