Charlie Baker is still the Governor. Interestingly, he and Karyn Polito won by a 2-1 margin, state-wide, over the Democratic nominee Jay Gonzalez and, surprisingly, finished dead even in Boston. In light of this, what does this say about the future direction of the Democratic Party in Massachusetts.
Democrats Maura Healey, Bill Galvin, Suzanne Bump, Deb Goldberg, Nick Collins, Michael Donovan, Maura Doyle, Stephen Murphy, Maura Hennigan, all retained their respective State and Suffolk County posts and Democratic nominees were re-elected by and large among Boston’s legislative delegation. Newcomers include District Attorney-Elect Rachel Rollins and State Representative-Elect David Biele.
Senator Elizabeth Warren and US Representative Stephen Lynch cruised to their victories, with Ayanna Pressley and Lori Trahan becoming the newest Members of Congress. In Congress, with a newly flipped Democratic majority, as a result of these mid-term elections, Lynch is poised to become the chairman of an important committee, depending on who is elected Speaker of the House. Minority Leader, Nancy Pelosi has been a target of the Republican Party over the last two years and her prospects to become the Speaker again is uncertain.
As for the Commonwealth, the first question looms as to who, among them, or among others across the Commonwealth, will emerge as the party leader of the next generation of Democrats. The second question remains as to what the Democrat’s message is or will be. Neither question has an immediate or easy answer, it appears.
The media is reveling in having had an effect on Congressional races and some State races across the country and are promoting the notion that this election was a referendum on and repudiation of President Donald Trump and his republican agenda. However, the amount of money spent to ‘hammer away’ on Trump on a daily basis, was not enough to turn the Senate. Moreover, there still lingers the public skepticism that the media is not ‘on the level’.
Many believe that the goal of the corporate media, with, in a number of cases, biased reporting as collaborators, is not so much to resuscitate its reputation as the Fourth Estate, referring to the press and news media both in its capacity of advocacy and ability to frame political issues, but rather to report on and even create controversy to grow ‘eyeballs’, ‘clicks’, and revenue. The value of the U.S. entertainment and media market from 2011 to 2017 grew from just under $500 billion to $655 billion. In 2020, the entertainment and media market in the U. S. is expected to be worth over $720 billion. On a global scale, the entertainment and media market was worth $1.72 trillion in 2015 and is set to rise to $2.14 trillion by 2020.
Back to the future. Led by female suburban voters put off by his tone and younger voters who opposed his short-sighted priorities, this demographic was saying that this election is about you, Donald Trump, and we won’t give you a vote of confidence. This, according to pundits assessing the data. They turned out in huge numbers and helped flip enough House seats to elevate the Democrats to control of the House of Representatives.
In the coming days, Democrats will need to figure out how to use their new House majority, and whether they can find a way to push through the issues that they have been pushing throughout the mid-terms, such as reforming immigration, preserving Obamacare, and passing more gun control.
The continual challenge of course is that these issues are the more polarizing issues that ensure that the road will not be an easy one. Republicans are still in control of the Senate and the White House. If the Democrats decide that they will spend the next two years trying to take down Trump and not do the people’s business, they might find they will be on the losing side come 2020.
Here in Massachusetts, the drubbing of Geoff Diehl by Warren, and the success of Baker in Boston, has set the parameters. Governor Charlie Baker may be the key to re-directing the Massachusetts Democratic Party agenda. How the Democrats in power work with Baker to achieve practical and sensible progress on key issues, such as health care, transportation, housing and education will underpin the message that the Democrats ‘get it’. Trump has and will continue to ‘hammer away’ the notion that Democrats are “extreme, radical liberals”. To date, it appears that the Party has not shown its willing to walk back from that label. Therein lies the test come 2020.
