Canton backs Harris but Trump retakes White House

Canton voters stayed largely blue while the majority of the country went decidedly red in a historic 2024 election night on Tuesday that saw Republicans wrest control from the Democrats and deliver Donald Trump back to the White House.

With his projected victory, Trump is slated to become just the second U.S. President, after Grover Cleveland in the late 1800s, to win two non-consecutive terms, flipping several states that he had lost to Joe Biden in 2020 while also securing his first popular vote win in three tries. As of press time, Republicans had also flipped three seats in the U.S. Senate to clinch majority control, and five seats in the U.S. House with several races yet to be called.

Trump’s opponent, meanwhile — Kamala Harris, the current U.S. Vice President — campaigned feverishly in the “Blue Wall” states of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin but was projected to fall just short in all three, echoing the results of the last female candidate to take on Trump, Democrat Hillary Clinton in 2016.

Closer to home, Harris performed well in the liberal stronghold of Massachusetts, claiming 61.8 percent of the vote compared to Trump’s 36 percent. In Canton, unofficial totals had Harris with just over 60 percent of the vote and Trump with 37.8 percent — a tad closer than the margin of victory for Biden in 2020 (63 to 34 percent).

In the other contested federal races on the ballot, Canton voters were largely in line with the rest of the state, opting for incumbent Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren over Republican challenger John Deaton (56.5 to 43.5 percent compared to 60.1 to 39.9 percent statewide) and incumbent Democratic Congressman Stephen Lynch over his two-time challenger, Milton native and grassroots Republican candidate Robert Burke (67.8 to 32.2 percent compared to 70.8 to 29.2 percent across the entirety of the 8th Congressional District).

Canton also went with the winner in races for state Senate, where incumbent Democrat Paul Feeney sailed to reelection over Workers Party challenger Laura Saylor, and Governor’s Councillor in the 2nd District, where Democrat Tamisha Civil, who twice challenged for state rep. against Canton’s Bill Galvin, prevailed this year in a spirited race over fellow Stoughton resident Francis Crimmins (R). Civil defeated Crimmins, a retired district court judge, by a margin of 58 to 42 percent across the 37-town district (55-45 percent in Canton).

On the five ballot questions — each proposing new state laws by initiative petition — Canton voters sided with the state on four of them, voting yes to authorize the state auditor to audit the legislature (73.4 to 26.6 percent); yes to eliminate the MCAS test as a requirement to receive a high school diploma (55 to 45 percent); no to the proposed legalization and regulation of some psychedelic drugs (63 to 37 percent); and no to gradually bringing the minimum wage for tipped workers up to the full state minimum wage (69 to 31 percent).

The one question where Canton differed from the state as a whole was on Question 3, which sought to give ride share drivers the option to unionize.

While the initiative passed with roughly 54 percent of the overall state vote, Canton voted no by a slim margin (51.5 to 48.5 percent), joining Westwood as the only opponents among the immediately surrounding towns.

Also on Tuesday, two lifelong Canton residents — Rep. Galvin in the 6th Norfolk District and County Commissioner Richard Staiti — were reelected to their posts in uncontested races.

Staiti’s colleague on the Norfolk County Commissioners, Joseph Shea of Quincy (D), was also reelected, as was Norfolk Register of Deeds William O’Donnell (D), while former state Senator Walter Timilty of Milton (D) was elected as Norfolk Clerk of Courts, a position held for the past several years by his father, also named Walter Timilty.

According to the Town Clerk’s office, a total of 14,162 Canton residents cast a ballot in this year’s election for a total turnout of 77 percent — lower than each of the past two presidential elections in 2016 and 2020.

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Posted by Jay Turner on Nov 7 2024. Filed under News, Town Election. Both comments and pings are currently closed.