Lou

We are proud to announce that all 10 of our DanversDems members running for town office were elected!

Beth Kontos was the top vote getter in the race for School Committee.

Ellen Graham was the top vote getter in the race for Library Trustee.

Three members were the top vote getters in the race for Town Meeting Member: Patricia Maloney in Precinct 2, Julie Curtis in Precinct 5 and Lizz Bernazzani in Precinct 8.

Congratulations to all our member candidates.

School Committee

* Beth Kontos.

Library Trustee

* Ellen Graham

Town Meeting Members

* Jillian Durand (Precinct 1)

* Patricia Maloney (Precinct 2)

* Vincent Malgeri (Precinct 3)

* Julie Curtis (Precinct 5)

* Mike Shannon (Precinct 5)

* Thomas Meagher (Precinct 6)

* Barbara Devereaux (Precinct 7)

* Elizabeth Bernazzani (Precinct 8)

Thank you to everyone who turned out on Election Day to support our candidates. They will bring a commitment to fairness, inclusion, responsible governance, and thoughtful leadership.

Thank you for being an engaged member of our community.

After a nominating convention marred by long lines, hiccups in vote tallying, and a delay so long that one candidate opened bar tabs for attendees, the Massachusetts Republican party endorsed Mike Minogue as their candidate for governor.

The day stretched hours past schedule, to the point where a good number of delegates — more than 150 — left the arena, tired and frustrated, in between the contested elections for lieutenant governor and governor Saturday.

Once votes were tallied, Minogue, a former medical device company CEO and political outsider who has poured $12.5 million of his own money into his campaign, ended the day with a decisive 70 percent of the votes cast by party delegates, cruising his way to the party’s endorsement

Mike Kennealy, a former economic development secretary, was knocked off the Sept. 1 ballot after failing to secure 15 percent of the votes. Former MBTA general manager Brian Shortsleeve barely cleared the threshold with 15.5 percent.

Party chair Amy Carnevale told reporters last week that more than 4,000 delegates had qualified to attend the convention. Just under 1,800 ultimately cast votes for their choice of governor.

“Let’s get through this convention, and let’s get through it with respect,” state Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr said after a series of boos.

Republicans endorsed Anne Brensley, a Wayland selectwoman who ran her own campaign for lieutenant governor but was backed by Minogue, with 56 percent of the vote.

The party on Saturday also nominated several Republicans who ran unopposed Saturday, including John Deatonfor US Senate, Elizabeth Dionne for state treasurer, and Mike Walsh for attorney general.

Virginia voters approved a Democratic plan to allow them to redraw the state congressional map for the remainder of the decade — part of the partisan battle over redistricting happening in several states ahead of the 2026 midterm election. The proposed map would give Democrats a chance at winning 10 of Virginia’s 11 congressional districts, a dramatic shift from the current 6-5 split in the Virginia House delegation.

The vote was 52% – 48%

The Virginia redistricting referendum marked a setback for President Donald Trump, who kicked off a national redistricting battle last year by urging Republican officials in Texas to redraw districts. 

The Virginia redistricting referendum could help nullify Republican gains elsewhere.

Democrat Analilia Mejia has won a special election for New Jersey’s 11th congressional district keeping Gov. Mikie Sherrill’s old seat under Democratic control and handing a huge win to the insurgent progressive movement that powered Mejia’s campaign. Mejia beat moderate Republican Joe Hathaway 59.5% to 40%.

When all votes are in, Mejia will have overperformed Kamala Harris’s nine-point win in the district by around 12 points, give or take, another positive sign for Democrats ahead of this year’s midterms; other special elections around the country have seen Democratic overperformances of between 13 and 25 points.

The district’s transformation from a Republican stronghold to a Democratic-leaning area reflects broader trends in suburban voting patterns across the United States.

Hungary Prime Minister Viktor Orban was defeated on Sunday’s election. The opposition Tizra Party won a two thirds majority of seats in parliament: 135 – 57.

Orban is a far right authoritarian calling himself an illiberal democrat. He is strongly anti-immigration, worked to control the courts, stifle the media, ban books, attacked his opponents and is the lone country holding up support for Ukraine.

Orban is the strong best proponent of Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump in Europe. Let me say that again. He is the best friend or Putin and Trump. Both of whom strongly supported Orban. Russia by trying to influence the election and US by sending JD Vance in person to campaign for Orban and for Trump doing the same virtually.

Sunday was a good day for Western Democracy and hopefully a harbinger of what is coming to the US in November.