In the end, the story might just be the large number of people who voted third party – or didn’t vote at all.
With an official winner not declared until early Wednesday morning, it appears voters were willing to risk believing Donald Trump’s economic vision, or anyone else’s – and in battleground states “third-party” candidates have traditionally tipped the scale in close elections – than the reality of the four years of economic growth seen under the Biden-Harris administration, and the potential of being led by a Black woman.
Locally, just 226 votes in Whitman separated the two major party candidates, with Trump receiving 4,330 votes to Vice President Kamala Harris’ 4,104 of the 8,705 votes cast. The remaining 271 votes were scattered between four fringe parties, of which ubiquitous Green Party candidate Jill Stein received only 33. There were 80 blanks.
The margin was greater for Trump in Hanson, where he received 3,687 votes to Harris’ 2,931 – a difference of 756 votes – with fringe candidates garnering 150 votes with 84 blanks for a total of 234 votes.
There are 12,062 registered voters in Whitman, meaning 3,628 eligible voters did not vote. There were 6,852 votes cast in Hanson, meaning 1,625 of the town’s 8,477 eligible voters did not vote.
In the U.S. Senate race, John Deaton carried Hanson 4,004 to incumbent Elizabeth Warren’s 2,685 and in Whitman Deaton took 4,645 votes to Warren’s 3,828. Statewide, Warren won re-election 60.3 percent to 39.7 percent to return to a now-Republican-controlled Senate.
Massachusetts returned it’s Blue slate to a House of Representatives that could also have a GOP majority when the counting is done. Whitman gave incumbent Democrat Stephen Lynch 4,848 to Republican Robert G. Burke’s 3,482. Hanson preferred Republican challenger Dan Sullivan with 3,500 votes to incumbent Bill Keating’s 3,083.
Hanson sends Republican Ken Sweezey to the Statehouse in the 6th Plymouth District with 2,590 votes to Democrat Rebecca Coletta’s 1,808.
A Trump win, according to PBS fact checking, will likely end Trump’s federal felony criminal cases, and while Fulton County Georgia DA Fani Willis, who is still prosecuting the former president, the case is awaiting a judicial ruling.
“This was a movement like nobody has ever seen before, and frankly, this was, I believe, the greatest political movement of all time” Trump said shortly before 2:30 a.m. in Palm Beach, Fla., as he seemed close to winning all seven battleground states.
Trump’s win will likely also mean an administration of promised retribution against perceived “enemies among us;” stripping large numbers of immigrant citizens of that citizenship and mass deportations; pledges to enforce tariffs that could cost Americans $78 billion in spending power, according to Reuters; along with cuts to Social Security and Medicare and a quest to eliminate birthright citizenship.
His promised “dictatorship on Day 1,” will also likely mean the end of Biden administration job-creating programs like the CHIPS and Science Act, which aims to bolster the U.S. semiconductor supply chain and the defunding of some of the infrastructure initiatives of the bipartisan Infrastructure and Jobs Act. He plans on placing Elon Musk in charge of Cabinet office overseeing a massive downsizing of government agencies as outlined in the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, as well as giving Robert F. Kennedy Jr. a post with “sweeping powers” to control public health agencies.
Draconian laws in the states aimed at limiting women’s reproductive freedoms in the wake of the Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson ruling, are likely to continue and Justice Clarence Thomas has signaled a willingness to reconsider protections for the right to birth control [Griswold v. Connecticut] and same-sex marriage [Obergefell v. Hodges].
Harris had made such personal freedoms a key focus of her campaign’s Freedom theme.
“Almost everywhere,” according to Politifact, by the Poynter Institute, “[Vice President Kamala] Harris underperformed the marks that produced Joe Biden’s 2020 victory over Trump.”
Harris, who had hosted an Election Night rally at her alma mater, Howard University in Washington, DC, opted not to make an address the gathering and planned to speak at the university on Wednesday.
Her campaign co-chair, former Congressman Cedric Richard addressed the crowd at Howard instead, shortly before 1 a.m.
“We still have votes to count,” Richard said. “We still have states that have not been called yet. We will continue overnight to fight to make sure that every vote is counted, that every voice has spoken.”
Some hope locally
Still, local political leaders had expressed an optimism that Americans could still bridge the divide.
Perhaps the first person at the polls – or at least nearby – was Democratic Town Committee Chair Justin Evans, who was unloading Harris-Walz and Elizabeth Warren signs for his volunteers to use later that morning.
It was too early for Evans to predict how the day would go.
“It’s been a very intense, very passionate election – very short for one candidate – and I’m optimistic that things work out the way I’m hoping,” he said. “However it turns out, I’m just hopeful that people come together in the end … and we can bring the country back together.”
While some political consultants have suggested that this year’s shorter campaign, while not as brief as the six-week snap elections seen in the U.K, might work for the United States going forward, Evans was skeptical.
“I think Kamala Harris spent most of the last couple of months introducing herself, where Donald Trump’s been a known entity for decades,” he said. “It may have been a disadvantage for her.”
Kathy DiPasqual-Egan, of the Hanson Democratic Town Committee said she was feeling good about the day ahead as she and volunteers unloaded signs at the veterinarian office across from Hanson Middle School.
“Well, We’ll have fun,” she said. “I’m hopeful.”
Hanson Select Board member Ed Heal, doing sign-holding chores for one of Hanson’s Republican state representative candidates, Ken Sweezey said he felt confident in the day’s outcome.
“We’re confident about Sweezey,” said Hanson resident Paul Benanato. “The battleground for this race is going to be Duxbury. In this state, that’s about it.”
Asked about the top of the ticket, Benanato replied referring to Warren and John Deaton, “Are you crazy? Those two knuckleheads? No. It’s like, is Elizabeth Warren in the state right now?”
Where the Harris-Trump race is concerned, Benanato expressed more confidence.
“I’m not worried about it,” Benanato said.
“It depends on what news people get,” Heal said.
On the Democratic side of the state representative race vs Sweezey in the 6th Plymouth district, Becky Coletta said she was confident, too.
“I’m feeling pretty good,” she said in a phone interview Tuesday. “We’re looking at the early vote and it looks really strong, really good and the polls are really busy today. We were very excited to see the early vote, I think that will be very helpful to us, but I’m also seeing a lot of people voting out here today and that’s exciting.”
As she spoke, former state representative, and her law partner, Josh Cutler, did some sign holding for Colletta at the Hanson Middle School polls.
“I think it’s going to be a great turnout,” Coletta said.
But where the top of the ticket is concerned, Coletta said, “I think it’s going to be nerve-racking for a couple of days as we try to find out who’s going to win the top of the ticket.
As first-time volunteer sign-holder Rhonda Fiandaca stood holding a Harris-Walz placard stapled to a very long stick, two women drove by to offer encouragement. One older woman waiting to turn onto South Avenue from Central Street, leaned out her window, applauding and said “All the way! We’ve got to get rid of that a*e.”
Another driving along South Avenue said, “If I wasn’t on my way to work, I’d be there with you.”
Further up South Avenue, in the Venus Pizza parking lot, Republican stalwarts held signs and acknowledge the horn honks from Trump supporters driving by.
“It’s so important,” Fiandaca said. “This is so important. I have so many family members that would be affected – just for the women’s rights alone – I have granddaughters and one of my granddaughters just went through a pregnancy scare, and if she didn’t live here … and that is so frightening to me.”
She said the positive comments from women driving or walking by is encouraging.
Across the street, at the corner usually frequented by Democratic volunteers, School Committee member, an write-in candidate for state representative Rosemary Connolly was sign-holding for a few Democratic candidates. Her late decision to challenge Rep. Alyson Sullivan-Almeida, was an effort to provide some representation for Democrats on the ballot.
“My feeling today is that people sit and talk to each other and don’t ‘us’ and ‘them’ everyone and make it about people more than about politics,” Connolly said. “Society can’t go that way. In the end, if things go wrong, nobody in Washington is going to sandbag around your house with you – your neighbor is.”
Whitman Democratic Committee member Tom Evans said he felt really good about the party’s chances on the day.
“I’ve got a feeling that things are going to go a more positive way,” Evans said. “Hopefully, I’m right.”
Unlike his committee Chair Justin Evans (no relation), he thought the shorter campaign was a good turn of events.
“If she wins I hope people realize you don’t have to go two years [on a campaign] anymore,” he said.
Trump backers, more subdued in the morning, but more raucous toward afternoon, were respectful of the Democratic sign-holders, if just as confident of his chances.
“I think he’ll do better in this state than last time,” said a man walking by after he had voted. But he was hedging his bet. “We don’t win this time, I’m out of Whitman,” he said. “I’ve already spoken to a realtor in Florida.
“Trump’s gonna win,” said a woman holding a sign for her candidate.
“Confident,” replied former Select Board member Brian Bezanson to the question of how he felt going into the day.
“Optimistically confident,” offered another volunteer.
“It’s going to be good weather and we’ll have good results,” Bezanson said. “There’s been a lot of early voting. … As long as they vote – that’s what you need. You need to get the biggest turnout you can get because the more people come, the more of a good snapshot you can get of the way people feel.”
Bezanson also said it has been the very first election in which he early voted.
“I felt it was a good idea to bank it early,” he said. “Campaigns check and see who’s voting and then they can spend their resources getting somebody else out to vote. It saves money for the campaign, I guess.”
Hanson Select Board Chair Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett summed it up this way:
“The one thing I’m truly grateful for is that this election, both on the local and national level has engaged people on the issues and motivated people to vote,” she said. “At the end of the day, after the election we will all be neighbors and we will all continue to make our town a great place to live. Regardless of who wins the state representative seat, the Hanson Select Board will continue to work with the state advocate for our town.”