Charlie Baker Squeaks By

Bill McCarthy, Worcester Representative for the MassGOP State Committee

“I think the Baker campaign did a great job of targeting everyone that they needed to target to ensure a win. Baker did a lot of work with independent voters, unions, and other groups that he knew that knew he was going to need to close the gap in to beat Coakley.”

Fattmans Win Big

John Mahoney, State Rep from Worcester's 13th District

On Ryan: "I'm not surprised. I came in with Ryan four years ago. He did relentless door knocking. It's so effective. He is a good candidate. He's great with people and door knocking is good of you have the ability to commend with people."

On Stephanie: "I was outside Worcester quite a bit watching my sons play football. The visibility she had outside the city was great. It was a really well run campaign. It's a position that's obscure to most people. It became a popularity contest.

On Fattmans: "They were really well advised. It's like watching football when there's a really good team playing a great game. And though they may not be your team, they still executed very well."
 

Women Take Four of Six Statewide Offices

Samantha Washburn-Baronie, Executive Director of the Massachusetts Women's Political Caucus

“There were a lot of great victories for women in Massachusetts on Election Day. Even with Coakley losing, her message to women was an encouraging sign for women everywhere. The success of Healey, Goldberg, and others is a huge victory.”

Worcester's Youth Movement

Dan Donahue (D), State Representative of Worcester’s 16th District

“I think experience is extremely important when you’re dealing with the political arena. Having the experience, having the background, and having different paths through life is very important and it enriches how the city’s decision making process will go. However, politics is always an ever-changing game. Its great to see young people care about the city, who have a passion and desire to get involved in politics and get involved in the decision making process."

Healey Becomes First Openly Gay AG

Chad Griffin, Human Rights Campaign President

"Maura Healey is one of the staunchest advocates for equality we have in this country, and we join her in celebrating her historic victory tonight. As the nation's first openly gay attorney general, she is an inspirational trailblazer and will fight to guarantee civil rights and legal equality for all people of Massachusetts."

Chandler Wins By Large Margin

David LeBouef, Chandler's Campaign Manager

"This was a real Republican wave that was happening so we really had to work extra hard not only supporting our fellow Democrats but making sure we working on coordinated efforts and adding our own efforts to it. Harriette was out knocking on doors, making phone calls, and we really invested more heavily in our field program."

Martha Coakley Loses Momentum, Gov Race

David Kravitz, Blue Mass Group 

“Unexpected late events can have an outsized impact on elections, and that seems to me what happened here.  Charlie Baker committed a major unforced error in the last debate by telling a story about a fisherman that seems to have been fictional in substantial part, and that generated a flurry of bad headlines and embarrassing press appearances where he was mumbling things about the essence of the story being true, whatever that means. If the press had run with that for another couple of days, who knows how many late-breaking undecideds it might have swung in an already very close race. But Menino’s death took over the front pages for about four straight days, and made it impossible for either campaign to make news in the final stretch – which suited Team Baker just fine."

Casinos are Coming to MA

Stewart Loosemore, Director of Government Affairs and Public Policy at the Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce

“We might not have a facility here, but there are still economic benefits for both Worcester and Central Massachusetts. We aren’t talking about jobs in the state, we are talking about jobs in the city and the region. Not only that, if money is brought to the local economy, then it stays local.”

Republicans Control Senate and House

Robert Boatright, Associate Professor, Department of Political Science at Clark University

“This is a Senate that might not accomplish much. The big story here is going to be if the Republicans who won in traditionally Democratic states and whether or not those seats will be retained by Republicans in a Presidential Election year.”

Richard Moore Loses Senate Seat

Anthony Petrone, Campaign Advisor for Steve Abraham

"I'm not shocked. There's a time and place in the political world when you need to know to call it quits. There was a lot of indication that Fattman would win. When Fattman moved to Webster, he increased his base. He had the towns he represented as a representative plus all the conservatives in Webster. Moore was a very effective Senator and it's too bad he had to lose under these terms. But in reality, people knew he was in trouble."