Malden voters follow lead of Mass. electorate in Presidential vote

Locals back runner-up Democrat Harris for top spot; turnout surprisingly lower than expected at 58%

By Steve Freker

Malden voters voted early, by mail and at the polls “live” on Tuesday, and the results were largely in line with the results across Massachusetts. The Presidential Election runner-up, Democrat Kamala Harris, topped the ballot in Malden with a 66%-29% win over Republican President-Elect Donald Trump. Harris received 15,503 votes to Trump’s 6,376 votes in Malden.

Surprisingly, however, even with the lure of another historic election and some of the best early November weather possible, voter turnout was just 58%, nearly 15% lower than turnout in both the previous 2020 and 2016 Presidential Elections. While Malden’s registered voters’ list soared to a new city high of 38,425, the turnout was just 22,305 – 58% – down from 73% in 2020 and 71 percent in 2016. Again, Malden was in line with the numbers from across the Commonwealth. Massachusetts was forecast to potentially set a new voter turnout record (as was Malden), but fell short as 2.9 million cast votes (57%), falling short of the 3.6 million voters in 2020.

In another contested election, Malden voted to reelect incumbent Elizabeth Warren to the U.S. Senate over Republican challenger John Deaton by a wide 69%-28% margin. In other federal and state elections, Malden reelected several incumbents to new two-year terms, including U.S. Rep. Katherine Clark (D-5th District, 17,023 votes), state Sen. Jason Lewis (16,289 votes) and Malden state Reps. Steven Ultrino (D-33rd Middlesex, 11,210 votes), Paul Donato (D-35th Middlesex, 4,004 votes) and Kate Lipper-Garabedian (D-32nd Middlesex, 1,341 votes).

Rep. Ultrino, who was reelected to a fifth consecutive two-year term, ran unopposed this year. He was first elected in 2015 and represents the 33rd Middlesex, which is an all-Malden district: Ward 2; Ward 3, Precincts 1 and 2; Ward 4; Ward 5, Precincts 1 and 3; Ward 6; Ward 7, Precincts 2 and 3; and Ward 8.

Rep. Donato’s 35th Middlesex includes parts of Malden and Medford: Ward 1; Ward 3, Precincts 1A and 3; Ward 7, Precincts 1 and 3A, of the city of Malden; and Ward 1; Ward 2; Ward 3, Precinct 1; Ward 6, Precinct 2A; Ward 7, Precinct 2; and Ward 8, Precinct 1, of the city of Medford. Rep. Donato was reelected to a 12th consecutive term and was first elected in 1999. He defeated a primary challenger in September and ran unopposed on Tuesday.

Rep. Lipper-Garabedian represents all of Melrose plus parts of Malden and Wakefield. She was reelected to a third consecutive term. Her 32nd Middlesex district includes Ward 5, Precincts 2 and 3A, in Malden; the entire city of Melrose; and Precincts 4, 5 and 6 of Wakefield.

U.S. Rep. Clark – who is the U.S. House Democratic Whip – ran unopposed and was reelected to a sixth consecutive term representing the Fifth Congressional District: in Middlesex County: Arlington, part of Bedford, Belmont, most of Cambridge, Framingham, Lexington, Lincoln, Malden, Maynard, Medford, Melrose, Natick, Stoneham, Sudbury, Waltham, Watertown, Wayland, Weston, Winchester and Woburn; in Suffolk County: Revere and Winthrop; in Norfolk County: parts of Wellesley.

Malden voters also reelected former Malden Police Chief and former Malden School Committee member James Holland as the Malden representative on Northeast Metropolitan Regional Vocational High School’s School Committee.

SIDEBAR 

  Malden matches the state on 5 ballot questions: “Yes” on 1, 2 & 3, “No” on 4 & 5

Malden voters basically matched the state results on the five ballot questions on varying topics.

—Malden supported Question 1, authorizing the State Auditor’s bid to audit the state legislature, by a more than 3-to-1 margin: 14,690-4,989 or 65%-22%. At the state level, voters backed the measure: 72%-28%.

—Local voters backed Question 2, which will end passing the MCAS as a 10th grader as a high school graduation requirement, 12,413-8,446 or 55%-38%. Statewide, the vote was nearly identical to local numbers, passing by a 59%-41% percentage.

—Question 3, allowing Uber and Lyft drivers to unionize, was supported by Malden voters with a “Yes” vote: 13,373-7,063 or 59%-31%. Statewide, Mass. voters approved this measure by a closer margin: 55%-46%.

—Malden voters narrowly voted against allowing the legalization of psychedelic substances like “magic mushrooms,” etc. by just 307 votes: 10,649-10,349 or 50.2%-49.8%. Statewide, Mass. voters nixed the measure by a wider margin: 57%-43%.

—Malden voters rejected Question 5, raising tipped workers’ salaries to minimum wage numbers, by a closer vote, 139 votes difference: 10,358-10,219 or 50.3%-49-7%. Mass. voters were overwhelming overall statewide in downing this measure: 64 %-36%.

—Steve Freker