Massachusetts voters had their eyes on more than just the Bay State’s own midterm elections last night. A historic blue wave swept across the country, allowing the Democratic Party to regain control of both the House and the Senate, flipping seats in even deep-red states like Kansas and Texas.
For Celia Segel, a 40-year-old Boston resident, the results were unimaginable to her before Tuesday night.
“I wasn’t really following [the midterms] closely because of the last 10 years of heartbreak,” Segel said. “I kind of expected the polls to be wrong, like they have been. And watching Texas, Kansas, Ohio turn the Senate and governor to blue — I never thought I would see that in my lifetime, especially Texas.”
In a state where registered Democrats outnumber Republicans by a three-to-one margin, local Democrats shared a similar feeling of disbelief about Tuesday night’s election results. Whether Massachusetts voters were excited, apprehensive, or somewhere in between about last night’s election results, there was a feeling that the results could bring about a change to the status quo.
“I watched [the election] with my kids last night,” Segel said. “I have three kids. Last night, it was so fun to watch with them. It’s the excitement I haven’t felt since '08, since Obama won. And it is hopeful for the first time in so long, in 10 years.”
Beyond Texas and Kansas, Massachusetts voters were keeping their eyes on several other states, including Ohio. Isabella Galloway, a first-year graduate student at Boston University originally from Ohio, said she had been fervently encouraging all her friends back home to cast their ballots.
“I think Ohio going blue — and America going blue in general — is a reflection of how Americans are sick of Donald Trump,” Galloway said. “Blue in the Senate, first woman governor in Ohio. That’s pretty exciting.”
Another common theme was an apprehension around trusting the pre-election day polls. Peter Cavieux, a 76-year-old veteran and South End resident, said he grew wary of the polls after Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign.
“After Hillary Clinton was projected to win and wound up losing, I didn’t bother with the polls,” he said. “But you could sort of see that the country was leaning to dumping Trump and his policies — repudiating him.”
“Let’s hope the Democrats don’t screw it up,” Cavieux added.
