Charlie Breitrose
Democrats fared better in Watertown than in Massachusetts as a whole in the 2022 State Election, and a majority of city voters supported all four of the ballot questions.
More than half of Watertown’s registered voters turned out for the Nov. 8 election, with 13,624 (53.3 percent) of the 25,560 registered voters casting ballots, according to the City Clerk’s election results.
In the race for governor and lieutenant governor, Democrats Maura Healey and Kim Driscoll received 77.6 percent of the vote in Watertown, with 10,574 votes. Republicans Geoff Diehl and Leah Allen received 2,733 votes. Libertarians Kevin Reed and Peter Everett got 179 votes. Statewide, Healey and Driscoll received 63.3 percent of the vote with 87.3 percent of the votes counted, according to the Associated Press.
In the race for Congress, Democrat Katherine Clark got 10,578 votes (77.6 percent) in Watertown, while Republican Caroline Colarusso 2,732 votes. In Massachusetts, Clark received 72.7 percent of the vote according to the AP.
Dem Andrea Campbell received 76.9 percent of the vote in Watertown in the Attorney General’s race against James McMahon. Campbell got 62.1 percent of the vote in Massachusetts.
William Galvin, the Democrat, was supported on 78 percent of Watertown’s ballots for Secretary of State, with 10,635 votes. Republican Rayla Cambell received 2,223 votes, and Juan Sanchez of the Green-Rainbow Party got 15 votes. In the state, Galvin received 67.4 percent of the vote.
With 79.9 percent of the Watertown vote, Democrat Deborah Goldberg got the highest percentage of support in Watertown in a contested race. Libertarian Cristina Crawford got 171 votes. Across the state, Goldberg got 77.6 percent of the vote.
The closest tally in Watertown was in the five-way race for Auditor. Democrat Diana DiZoglio got 8,803 votes (64.6 percent), Republican Anthony Amore got 3,190 votes, the Green-Rainbow Party’s Gloria Caballero-Roca received 535 votes, the Workers Party’s Domenic Giannone III got 320 votes, and Libertarian Daniel Riek got 214. DiZoglio got 54.8 percent of the vote in Massachusetts.
In several races on the Watertown ballot the incumbent faced no opponent: State Sen. Will Brownsberger, 10th Middlesex State Rep. John Lawn (Watertown Precincts 9-12), 29th Middlesex State Rep. Steve Owens (Precincts 1-8), District Attorney Marian Ryan, Middlesex Sheriff Peter Koutoujian, and District 3 Governor’s Councilor Marilyn Petitto Devaney.
In the ballot questions, Watertown leaned “yes” on all four, but with varying levels of support.
On Question 1, the “Fair Share Amendment” or sometimes called the “Millionaire’s Tax,” 65 percent of ballots in Watertown went for “Yes.” The AP has not called the result in Question 1, but Yes had 51.9 percent of the vote with 87.3 percent of the vote reported.
The dental insurance coverage measure, Question 2, got the highest support, with 75.6 percent of voters backing “Yes.” The measure passed with 71.3 of the vote in Massachustts and 87.3 percent reported.
Question 3, which expands liquor licenses, was the closest vote in Watertown, with 48.8 percent of the vote going to “Yes,” 44.6 percent voting “No,” and there were 908 blank ballots. Question 3 passed with 55.2 percent of the vote, according to the AP.
The measure to uphold the Legislature’s law to allow undocumented residents to get driver’s licenses got 67.9 percent support in Watertown with 9,245 votes for “Yes” and 3,838 votes for “No.” The result has not been called by the AP, but Yes leads with 53.5 percent of the statewide vote and 87.3 percent of precincts reporting.
See Watertown’s unofficial precinct by precinct vote by clicking here. The results become official when they are certified by the Secretary of the Commonwealth’s office.
Watertown voted overwhelmingly for Question 4 to allow people in the state illegally to apply for driver’s licenses.
That is truly welcoming.
Why not go a step further?
With thousands of families of many nationalities and countries coming over the southern border every week, why doesn’t Watertown invite, say, 500 such families into the city and provide them permanent housing, health care, food, clothing, jobs, and bilingual education for their children in the public schools?
If each family has two children, this would only be about a thousand new students.
With its increased tax revenue from Watertown’s new commercial projects this should not be a problem. It would also increase the diversity of the city.
When might the city council take this up?
Watertown can’t let the southern U.S. states bear all the burden of welcoming recent immigrant families.
So, you totally support the rewarding of “immigrants”, as you say, which in reality equates to giving people who have broken American laws by simply being here, “illegal immigrants” a license to drive a vehicle? How about insurance, too, in case they crash into your car? Only then, might you have second thoughts. Your thinking is what is dragging this country down the tubes, but I guess you haven’t heard about the drug epidemic in this country, which is assisted by “illegal immigrants” bringing them into the country while working with their fellow drug cartel members south of the border. A mere 1% of those who have arrived can total 10,000 in number. Keep your head buried in the sand.
Law enforcement supported Question 4 to make roads safer. It has ZERO to do with any kind of new benefits or voting rights for undocumented immigrants. People love to “Back the Blue” except when they disagree with their position on an issue.
Watertown needs to contact Texas to send more migrants to our great city. We need to do our part to help these people and this vote proves we are ready.
So requiring all drivers to be licensed in order to drive, which is all about safety, equates to “open borders”? Not a single fact supports this assertion. Not one.
Cristina Crawford is not a Republican. She is a Libertarian.
Thanks for the correction. I changed it in the story
Do you people pay property taxes? Or, are you renters? Just asking.
What possible difference does that make? It’s a question designed to divide people further.
It’s a great question Fred is asking! I’d like to hear the answer myself.
This country is a democracy–at least for the time being–and so all citizens have a right to participate in decision making through the franchise. There is no distinction between property owners and renters, nor should there be.
BTW, renters do pay property taxes when they pay rent to their landlords.
Are they illegal or undocumented
Big difference