While the nation’s attention has been turned to the presidential election, there were a number of contested local elections to watch Tuesday. Among the closer races on the Island: There will be a new Tisbury representative joining the Martha’s Vineyard Commission.
Mary Bernadette Budinger-Cormie, who won with 4,669 votes in Tuesday’s election, will be the newest Tisbury representative.
Budinger-Cormie, known for spearheading a movement against a controversial development to house Vineyard Wind workers at 97 Spring St. in Vineyard Haven, will be taking the seat of longtime Tisbury Commissioner Trip Barnes, who missed the deadline to pull papers.
The newest commissioner said she’s eager to get to work following Tuesday’s election. “What started for me as a grassroots effort has inspired and [led] me to commit my time and energy as a civil servant for the whole Island,” she told The Times by email on Wednesday. “I am humbled and feel incredibly supported by our amazing community. Now the hard work of preserving and protecting this Island and community we all love and cherish begins.”
Aquinnah write-in candidate Jannette Vanderhoop has earned a seat on the commission. Vanderhoop could not be reached by The Times to confirm if she will accept the nomination, but she received a total of 157 write-in votes in five Vineyard towns; The Times has not been able to confirm how many write-in votes she won in Oak Bluffs, however there were only a total of 105 write-in ballots for the commission. There were no candidates on the ballot to represent Aquinnah, so the top write-in candidate gets the seat.
Notable in Tuesday’s commission election: Amy Upton, with 4,865 votes, fell short in her bid to represent West Tisbury. Incumbents Ernest Sederholm (5,346 votes) and Linda Sibley (5,482 votes) retained their seats in West Tisbury.
“The numbers aren’t [nothing],” Upton told the Times in an email “I’m so proud to be a solid runner up to the West Tisbury incumbents whom I respect and admire. I wish I could join them, but am patient and will run again in two years. I am moved by the positive response to my candidacy for the MVC in the lead up to yesterday’s vote and at the ballot box. These warm feelings are a solace to me today. I am truly grateful to live here, and I remain determined to continue serving the community I love.”
Incumbent Commissioner Ben Robinson will be joining Budinger-Cormie to represent Tisbury, with 5,112 votes. Both beat out William O’Brien, who received 4,086 votes. “I’m glad to be able to do the work that I’m doing,” he said.
Robinson said it’ll be sad to see Barnes leave, since he was a “fixture” of the commission. He also said that it’ll have to be seen how the newly elected members will work on the commission.
Edgartown resident Michael MacKenty solidified his seat on the commission. MacKenty had been filling the seat of Edgartown Commissioner Christina Brown, who passed away on Memorial Day, before he took out papers to run for the commission. Incumbent Edgartown Commissioner Jeffrey Agnoli, who won 5,825 votes, will also be returning.
Incumbent commissioners Jay Grossman of Chilmark (4,962 votes) and Brian Smith of Oak Bluffs (4,864 votes) will also be returning.
A breakdown of town-by-town votes for all of the elections is available here.
State legislature
Incumbent state Sen. Julian Cyr and the newly minted state Rep. Thomas Moakley both cruised to victory on Tuesday.
Cyr won in a landslide against his challengers on the Island, receiving 8,277 votes on the Vineyard. Republican candidate Christopher Lauzon received 2,354 votes, and West Tisbury candidate Joe Van Nes earned 899 votes.
“Thank you to Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard, and Nantucket for the resounding support,” Cyr said Tuesday night. “It has been the honor of my life to serve the region.”
A Democrat residing in Provincetown, Cyr was first elected to office in 2016.
Cyr also had a strong showing in Barnstable, Lauzon’s town and the most conservative municipality in the district. The Barnstable election results showed Cyr outpaced Lauzon by 1,384 votes.
Moakley had no challenger after the state primary in September, when he defeated West Tisbury resident Arielle Faria. Moakley received 9,722 votes in Dukes County.
“I’m very excited to join the next generation of leaders in state government,” Moakley told The Times in a statement Tuesday evening. “The last couple of months since the primary have been full of tours, meetings, and phone calls, learning more about how I can be as effective a representative as possible from the very beginning, turning the themes and passions of the campaign into lasting legislation on Beacon Hill. I aim to be a representative that people will be able to stop on the street when they see me on-Island, and tell me what I can do to help.”
Federal elections
In Congress, the polls are showing that incumbent Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Rep. Bill Keating will take their seats once again.
Statewide, Warren received 59.8 percent of the vote over Republican challenger John Deaton. Keating received 56.4 percent of the vote.
Islanders voted for Warren over Deaton 8,694–3,988 while Keating won Islanders’ votes over Dan Sullivan 8,949–2,786.
Republican candidate Donald Trump beat Democratic candidate Kamala Harris in both the popular vote (51 percent nationally) and the electoral college (292 votes), securing the presidency.
In Dukes County, Harris swept each town over Trump, with a total tally of 9,039–2,736.
Ballot questions
As per ballot questions, Question 5 — which proposed raising the minimum wage of tipped workers in the state — may have received the most attention on the Island. Islanders ultimately voted against the measure in a 6,840–4,680 vote. AP News reports 57 percent of the state voted against the ballot question.
J.B. Blau, who owns the Martha’s Vineyard Restaurant Group, said it was a “good day” for the state’s restaurant industry, and that it was “wise” that people listened to restaurant staff’s opposition to the measure.
Blau pointed out that most Vineyard restaurants that remain open during the off-season operate with thin margins, or at a loss. He said the ballot measure would have shot up operational costs, and potentially cut restaurants staying open during the winter.
“Particularly for seasonal tourist towns like us, this had a way more important outcome,” he said.
The tightest ballot count was for Question 4, which proposed legalizing a limited number of psychedelic substances. Islanders voted 5,874–5,588 in favor of the measure. It is the only ballot question result that skewed away from the rest of the state, with AP News reporting around 57 percent of voters disapproved of the proposal.
Here’s how Islanders voted for the rest of the ballot questions.
For Question 1, Islanders approved allowing the state auditor to audit the state legislature, in a 7,675–3,433 vote. 71.5 percent of the state voted in favor of this measure.
For Question 2, Islanders voted in favor of repealing the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System, or MCAS, as a high school graduation requirement in a 7,035–4,713 vote. The standardized test was used by the state to determine whether a school was meeting its educational goals. Fifty-nine percent of the state supported ridding graduation of the MCAS.
For Question 3, Islanders voted in favor of allowing transportation network drivers, like those contracted with Uber, to form unions in a 6,663–4,571 vote; 53.9 percent of the state supported unionization.
More results
Islanders cast their ballots for several more races as well, many of them uncontested.
Incumbent first district Councilor Joseph Ferreira was favored over Krysten Condon 7,738–2,922.
Clerk of Courts T. George Davis and Register of Deeds Paulo DeOliveira — both incumbents — ran uncontested races, winning 9,894 votes and 9,897 votes respectively.
Additionally, six incumbent candidates who ran uncontested will be returning to the Dukes County Commission: Tristan Israel (7,050 votes), Donald Leopold (6,014 votes), Douglas Ruskin (5,692 votes), Christine Todd (6,837 votes), Richard Wharton (5,862 votes), and Randal Milch (5,530 votes).
