Baker, Coakley Complete Near Sweep of Gateway Cities in Primary

Mimicking much of the rest of the Commonwealth, Gateway Cities voted resoundingly to send Democrat Attorney General Martha Coakley and Republican Charlie Baker to compete in the general election for the State’s highest office.

Baker, who was fending off a Tea Party challenge from businessman Mark Fisher, took all but one of the Commonwealth’s twenty-six designated Gateway Cities, losing only the City of Westfield to Fisher and a commanding 72% of the vote total from the Gateway Cities combined voting bloc. Despite the good showing against his rival, Gateway City voters only comprised just fewer than 17% of Baker’s statewide vote total. This lower overall percentage could be an indicator that Baker’s campaign may need to ramp up its presence in Massachusetts’ urban communities if they want to reverse voting trends seen in the past few campaign cycles that seem to favor Democratic candidates in Gateway Cities.

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On the other side of the ticket, Coakley fended off State Treasurer Steve Grossman and Don Berwick to take twenty-four of the Gateway Cities, losing only the cities of Peabody and Quincy to Grossman. Coakley also took the combined vote total with just over 46% of votes cast, followed by 37% for Grossman, and 15% for Berwick. These numbers were generally in line with the statewide vote margin for each candidate, with only Berwick fairing about 5% worse in Gateways with those voters siding mainly with Coakley. The Attorney General’s victory was helped by her strong showing in urban communities, with over one-fourth of her supporters hailing from a Gateway City.

Winthrop Roosevelt
Director of Public Affairs
MassINC