Government and politics

Massachusetts State House facing Boston Common

The government of Massachusetts is divided into three branches: executive, legislative, and judicial. Massachusetts has a long political history; earlier political structures included the Mayflower Compact of 1620, the separate Massachusetts Bay and Plymouth colonies, and the combined colonial Province of Massachusetts. The Massachusetts Constitution was ratified in 1780 while the Revolutionary War was in progress, four years after the Articles of Confederation was drafted, and eight years before the present United States Constitution was ratified on June 21, 1788. Drafted by John Adams, the Massachusetts Constitution is currently the oldest functioning written constitution in continuous effect in the world.

In recent decades, Massachusetts politics have been generally dominated by the Democratic Party, and the state has a reputation for being one of the most liberal in the country. In 1974, Elaine Noble became the first openly lesbian or gay candidate elected to a state legislature in US history. The state housed the first openly gay member of the United States House of Representatives, Gerry Studds.

Government Main article: Government of Massachusetts

The Government of Massachusetts is divided into three branches: Executive, Legislative, and Judicial. The governor of Massachusetts heads the executive branch; duties of the governor include signing or vetoing legislation, filling judicial and agency appointments, granting pardons, preparing an annual budget, and commanding the Massachusetts National Guard. Massachusetts governors, unlike those of most other states, are addressed as His/Her Excellency. The current governor is Deval Patrick, a Democrat from Milton. The executive branch also includes the Executive Council, which is made up of eight elected councilors and the Lieutenant Governor.

Abilities of the Council include confirming gubanatorial appointments and certifying elections. The Massachusetts House of Representatives and Massachusetts Senate comprise the legislature of Massachusetts, known as the Massachusetts General Court. The House consists of 160 members while the Senate has 40 members. Leaders of the House and Senate are chosen by the members of those bodies; the leader of the House is known as the Speaker while the leader of the Senate is known as the President. Each branch consists of several committees. Members of both bodies are elected to two-year terms.

The Judicial branch is headed by the Supreme Judicial Court, which serves over a number of lower courts. The Supreme Judicial Court is made up of a chief justice and six associate justices. Judicial appointments are made by the governor and confirmed by the executive council.

The Congressional delegation from Massachusetts is entirely Democratic. Currently, the US senators are Democrats Mo Cowan and Elizabeth Warren. The nine members of the state's delegation to the US House of Representatives (all Democrats) are Richard Neal, Jim McGovern, Niki Tsongas, Joseph Kennedy III, Ed Markey, John F. Tierney, Mike Capuano, Stephen Lynch, and Bill Keating.

Federal court cases are heard in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts, and appeals are heard by the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. In US presidential elections, Massachusetts is allotted 11 votes in the electoral college, out of a total of 538. Like most states, Massachusetts's electoral votes are granted in a winner-take-all system.

Politics Main article: Politics of Massachusetts Presidential elections results Year Republican Democratic 2012 38% 1,178,510 61% 1,906,319 2008 36% 1,108,854 62% 1,904,098 2004 37% 1,070,109 62% 1,803,801 2000 33% 878,502 60% 1,616,487 1996 28% 718,107 62% 1,571,763 1992 29% 805,049 48% 1,318,662 1988 46% 1,194,635 53% 1,401,416

Throughout the mid 20th century, Massachusetts has gradually shifted from a Republican-leaning state to one largely dominated by Democrats; the 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 Edward M. Kennedy held that seat until his death from a brain tumor in 2009. Massachusetts has since gained a reputation as being a politically liberal state and is often used as an archetype of modern liberalism, hence the usage of the phrase "Massachusetts liberal".

Massachusetts routinely votes for the Democratic Party, with the core concentrations in the Boston metro area, the Cape and Islands, and Western Massachusetts. Pockets of Republican strength are in the central areas along the I-495 crescent, and communities on the south and north shores, but the state as a whole has not given its Electoral College votes to a Republican in a presidential election since Ronald Reagan carried it in 1984. Additionally, Massachusetts provided Reagan with his smallest margins of victory in both the 1980 and 1984 elections. In recent elections, even Scott Brown's 2010 win, Western MA is more reliably blue (by city/town) than Eastern MA.

As of the 2006 election, the Republican party holds less than 13% of the seats in both legislative houses of the General Court: in the House, the balance is 141 Democratic to 19 Republican, and in the Senate, 35–5.

Although Republicans held the governor's office continuously from 1991 to 2007, they have been among the more moderate Republican leaders in the nation. In the 2004 election, Massachusetts gave native son John Kerry 61.9% of the vote, his best showing in any state. In 2008, President Barack Obama carried the state with 61.8% of the vote. In a recent statewide election, a special election in 2010 for the U.S. Senate, saw Republican Scott Brown defeat Democrat Martha Coakley in an upset, by a 52% to 47% margin.

A number of contemporary national political issues have been influenced by events in Massachusetts, such as the 2003 state Supreme Court decision allowing same-sex marriage and a 2006 bill which mandated health insurance for all Bay Staters. In 2008, Massachusetts voters passed an initiative decriminalizing possession of small amounts of marijuana. Voters in Massachusetts also approved a ballot measure in 2012 that legalized the medical use of marijuana.

Further information: Political party strength in Massachusetts