Massachusetts

===Politics===
{{Main|Politics of Massachusetts|Political party strength in Massachusetts}}
{{See also|United States presidential elections in Massachusetts}}
[[File:Joe Kennedy III, Elizabeth Warren, Barney Frank.jpg|thumb|Boston Pride Parade, 2012. From left: Representative [[Joe Kennedy&nbsp;III]], Senator [[Elizabeth Warren]], and former representative [[Barney Frank]].|alt=Two older men and an older woman stand in a crowd with signs reading "Joe Kennedy for Congress".]]

Massachusetts has shifted from a previously [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]]-leaning state to one [[red states and blue states|largely dominated]] by [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrats]]; the [[United States Senate election in Massachusetts, 1952|1952 victory]] of [[John F. Kennedy]] over incumbent Senator [[Henry Cabot Lodge Jr.]] is seen as a watershed moment in this transformation. His younger brother [[Ted Kennedy|Edward M. Kennedy]] held that seat until his death from a brain tumor in 2009.{{sfn|Brown|Tager|2000|p=310}} Since the 1950s, Massachusetts has gained a reputation as being a politically liberal state and is often used as an archetype of [[modern liberalism in the United States|modern liberalism]], hence the phrase "[[Massachusetts liberal]]".<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.usatoday.com/news/politicselections/nation/president/2004-07-25-mass-liberal_x.htm |title=Does 'Massachusetts liberal' label still matter? |first1=Susan |last1=Page |first2=Jill |last2=Lawrence |work=[[USA Today]] |date=July 11, 2004 |access-date=October 17, 2009}}</ref>

Massachusetts is one of the most Democratic states in the country. Democratic core concentrations are everywhere, except for a handful of Republican leaning towns in the Central and Southern parts of the state. Until recently, Republicans were dominant in the Western and Northern suburbs of Boston, however both areas heavily swung Democratic in the Trump era. The state as a whole has not given its [[Electoral College (United States)|Electoral College]] votes to a Republican in a [[United States presidential election|presidential election]] since [[Ronald Reagan]] carried it in [[1984 United States presidential election|1984]]. Additionally, Massachusetts provided Reagan with his smallest margins of victory in both the [[1980 United States presidential election|1980]]<ref>{{cite web |title=1980 Presidential General Election Results—Massachusetts |url=http://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/state.php?f=0&fips=25&year=1980 |publisher=[[Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections]] |access-date=May 5, 2015}}</ref> and 1984 elections.<ref>{{cite web |title=1984 Presidential General Election Results—Massachusetts |url=http://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/state.php?f=0&fips=25&year=1984 |publisher=[[Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections]] |access-date=May 5, 2015}}</ref> Massachusetts had been the only state to vote for Democrat [[George McGovern]] in the [[1972 United States Presidential Election|1972 presidential election]]. In [[2020 United States presidential election in Massachusetts|2020, Biden received 65.6% of the vote]], the best performance in over 50 years for a Democrat.<ref>{{cite web |title=Massachusetts Presidential Election Voting History - 270toWin |url=https://www.270towin.com/states/Massachusetts |website=270toWin.com |access-date=December 4, 2022}}</ref>

Democrats have an absolute grip on the Massachusetts congressional delegation; there are no Republicans elected to serve at the federal level. Both Senators and all nine Representatives are Democrats; only one Republican (former Senator [[Scott Brown (politician)|Scott Brown]]) has been elected to either house of Congress from Massachusetts since 1994. Massachusetts is the most populous state to be represented in the [[United States Congress]] entirely by a single party.<ref>{{cite web |last1=master |first1=Por |title=Capital of massachusetts – |url=https://sinproeste.org.br/capital-of-massachusetts/ |website=Sinproeste |date=October 12, 2022 |access-date=December 4, 2022 |language=pt-BR}}</ref>

As of the 2018 elections, the Democratic Party holds a super-majority over the Republican Party in [[Bicameralism|both chambers]] of the [[Massachusetts General Court]] (state legislature). Out of the [[Massachusetts House of Representatives|state house]]'s 160 seats, Democrats hold 127 seats (79%) compared to the Republican Party's 32 seats (20%), an [[Susannah Whipps|independent sits in the remaining one]],<ref>{{cite web |title=Members of the House of Representatives |url=https://malegislature.gov/People/House |publisher=[[Massachusetts House of Representatives]] |access-date=January 18, 2019}}</ref> and 37 out of the 40 seats in the [[Massachusetts state senate|state senate]] (92.5%) belong to the Democratic Party compared to the Republican Party's three seats (7.5%).<ref>{{cite web |title=Members of the Senate |url=https://malegislature.gov/People/Senate |publisher=[[Massachusetts Senate]] |access-date=January 18, 2019}}</ref> Both houses of the legislature have had Democratic majorities since the 1950s.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hudak |first1=John |title=Presidential pork : White House influence over the distribution of federal grants |date=2014 |location=Washington, D.C. |isbn=9780815725206 |page=202 |url=https://www.brookings.edu/book/presidential-pork/ |access-date=December 4, 2022}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable floatright"
! colspan = 6 | Party registration as of October 2022<ref>{{cite web |title=Registration Statistics|publisher=[[Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth]] |access-date=March 2, 2023 |url=https://www.sec.state.ma.us/ele/elepdf/enrollment_count_20220827.pdf}}</ref>
|-
! colspan = 2 | Party
! Total voters
! Percentage
|-
| {{party color cell|Independent politician}}
| [[Independent voter|Unenrolled]]
| align=center | 2,951,863
| align=center | 60.44%
|-
| {{party color cell|Democratic Party (US)}}
| [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]
| align=center | 1,438,607
| align=center | 29.46%
|-
| {{party color cell|Republican Party (US)}}
| [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]]
| align=center | 437,211
| align=center | 8.95%
|-
| {{party color cell|Other parties (US)}}
|[[List of political parties in the United States|Other]]
| align=center | 56,395
| align=center | 1.15%
|-
! colspan = 2 | Total
! align=center | 4,884,076
! align=center | 100.00%
|}
Despite the state's Democratic-leaning tendency, Massachusetts has generally elected Republicans as [[governor of Massachusetts|Governor]]: only two Democrats ([[Deval Patrick]] and [[Maura Healey]]) have served as governor since 1991, and among gubernatorial election results from 2002 to 2022, Republican nominees garnered 48.4% of the vote compared to 45.7% for Democratic nominees.<ref name="Leip, David">{{cite web|author=Leip, David|title=General Election Results—Massachusetts|url=http://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/|access-date=November 18, 2016|publisher=[[Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections]]}}</ref> These have been considered to be among the most moderate Republican leaders in the nation;<ref>{{cite news |last=Gordon |first=Meryl |title=Weld at Heart |url=http://nymag.com/nymetro/news/politics/national/features/5574/ |newspaper=[[New York (magazine)|New York]] |date=January 14, 2002 |access-date=May 23, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Vennochi |first=Joan |title=Romney's liberal shadow |url=http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2007/06/17/romneys_liberal_shadow/ |newspaper=[[The Boston Globe]] |date=June 17, 2007 |access-date=May 23, 2010}}</ref> they have received higher net favorability ratings from the state's Democrats than Republicans.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Mass. GOP Voters Like Trump More Than Their Republican Governors|url=https://www.wbur.org/news/2020/03/02/charlie-baker-trump-republicans-poll|access-date=December 5, 2020|website=wbur.org|date=March 2, 2020 }}</ref>

A number of contemporary national political issues have been influenced by events in Massachusetts, such as the decision in 2003 by the state Supreme Judicial Court [[Same-sex marriage in Massachusetts|allowing same-sex marriage]]<ref>{{cite news |title=Same-sex couples ready to make history in Massachusetts |publisher=CNN |date=May 17, 2004 |access-date=July 31, 2013 |url=http://www.cnn.com/2004/LAW/05/17/mass.gay.marriage/}}</ref> and [[Massachusetts 2006 Health Reform Statute|a 2006 bill]] which mandated health insurance for all Massachusetts residents.<ref name="Mandatory">{{cite web |url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=11689698 |title=Massachusetts Makes Health Insurance Mandatory |first1=Michel |last1=Martin |first2=Judy Ann |last2=Bigby |publisher=[[NPR]] |date=July 3, 2007 |access-date=October 18, 2009 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100122024733/https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=11689698 |archive-date= Jan 22, 2010 }}</ref> In 2008, Massachusetts voters passed [[Massachusetts Sensible Marijuana Policy Initiative|an initiative]] decriminalizing possession of small amounts of [[marijuana]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sec.state.ma.us/ele/elepdf/2008%20Return%20of%20Votes%20Complete.pdf |title=2008 Return of Votes Complete |publisher=[[United States House of Representatives elections in Massachusetts, 2008]] |date=December 17, 2008 |access-date=October 18, 2009 |archive-date=February 8, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160208174407/http://www.sec.state.ma.us/ele/elepdf/2008%20Return%20of%20Votes%20Complete.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> Voters in Massachusetts also approved a ballot measure in 2012 that legalized the medical use of marijuana.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://archive.boston.com/metrodesk/2012/11/06/massachusetts-voters-approve-ballot-measure-legalize-medical-marijuana/EpDzgJGfBjnOAkoXpJwm1K/story.html |title=Massachusetts voters approve ballot measure to legalize medical marijuana |website=Boston Globe |access-date=April 13, 2013 |archive-date=April 12, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160412115401/http://archive.boston.com/metrodesk/2012/11/06/massachusetts-voters-approve-ballot-measure-legalize-medical-marijuana/EpDzgJGfBjnOAkoXpJwm1K/story.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> Following the approval of a ballot question endorsing legalization in 2016, Massachusetts began issuing licenses for the regulated sale of recreational marijuana in June 2018. The licensed sale of recreational marijuana became legal on July 1, 2018; however, the lack of state-approved testing facilities prevented the sale of any product for several weeks.<ref>{{cite news | title=Massachusetts issues first marijuana license |publisher=CommonWealth |date=June 21, 2018 |access-date=August 30, 2018 |url=https://commonwealthmagazine.org/marijuana/massachusetts-issues-first-marijuana-license/}}</ref> However, in 2020, a ballot initiative to implement [[2020 Massachusetts Question 2|Ranked-Choice Voting]] failed, despite being championed by many [[Progressivism in the United States|progressives]].<ref>{{cite web |first1=Simón |last1=Rios |title=Voters Say 'No' To Ranked-Choice Voting In Mass. |url=https://www.wbur.org/news/2020/11/04/question-two-ranked-choice-voting-massachusetts-no |publisher=[[WBUR]] |access-date=December 27, 2020 |date=November 4, 2020}}</ref>

Massachusetts is one of the most [[Abortion-rights movements|pro-choice]] states in the Union. A 2014 [[Pew Research Center]] poll found that 74% of Massachusetts residents supported the right to an [[abortion]] in all/most cases, making Massachusetts the most pro-choice state in the United States.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Religion in America: U.S. Religious Data, Demographics and Statistics|url=https://www.pewforum.org/religious-landscape-study/compare/views-about-abortion/by/state/|access-date=April 17, 2021|website=Pew Research Center's Religion & Public Life Project}}</ref>

In 2020, the state legislature overrode Governor [[Charlie Baker]]'s veto of the ROE Act, a controversial law that codified existing abortion laws in case the [[Supreme Court of the United States|Supreme Court]] overturned [[Roe v. Wade]], dropped the age of parental consent for those seeking an abortion from 18 to 16, and legalized abortion after 24 weeks, if a fetus had fatal anomalies, or "to preserve the patient's physical or mental health."<ref>{{Cite news|title=Massachusetts Senate Overrides Veto, Passes Law Expanding Abortion Access|url=https://www.npr.org/2020/12/29/951259506/massachusetts-senate-overrides-veto-passes-law-expanding-abortion-access|access-date=January 11, 2021|website=NPR|date=December 29, 2020|last1=Romo|first1=Vanessa}}</ref>

The 2023 ''American Values Atlas'' by ''[[Public Religion Research Institute]]'' found that [[Same-sex marriage in the United States|same-sex marriage]] is supported near-universally by Massachusettsans.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Staff |date=February 24, 2023 |title=American Values Atlas: Approval of Same-Sex Marriage in Massachusetts |url=https://ava.prri.org/#lgbt/2022/States/lgbt_ssm/m/US-MA |access-date=April 12, 2023 |website=[[Public Religion Research Institute]]}}</ref>