Senator Anthony Petruccelli and Representative Carlo Basile watch with campaign workers as the voting totals come in during last week’s election. Both Petruccelli and Basile were reelected last week with Petruccelli crushing opponent Tom Dooley in Eastie and throughout the rest of his district.
East Boston was no different than the rest of the city and came out big for President Barack Obama and helped hand him the state’s 11 Electoral votes on his road to reelection last Tuesday against former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney.
Seventy-four percent of Eastie voters supported Obama over Romney during the state’s general election. By the end of election night Obama gained 7,639 votes in Ward 1 to Romney’s 2,596 votes. Obama’s biggest margin of victory came from Precinct 3 were he gained 80 percent of the vote to Romney’s 17 percent.
Citywide Obama’s margin of victory was wider than here in Eastie. Obama received 79 percent of the vote to Romney’s 19 percent or 197,382 votes to 48,274 votes.
The result for other Democrats in Eastie during last Tuesday’s state election was no different than the presidential race. Eastie voters helped U.S. Senate Candidate Elizabeth Warren unseat incumbent Senator Scott Brown. Brown, a rising star in the Republican Party, lost the statewide race last week.
While the race was a lot closer than the presidential race Warren still won decisively. Warren received 67 percent of the vote to Brown’s 33 percent. Brown was a regular fixture in Eastie during the campaign season and gained some support among Democrats here.
In the final vote Brown got 3,331 votes but Warren, who also spent a lot of time campaigning here, received 6,969 votes among Eastie voters.
Again, Precinct 3 was a big factor for the Democrats and Warren beat Brown there 77 percent to 22 percent.
Citywide was a different story and Warren won convincingly with 74 percent of the vote to Brown’s 26 percent.
In local races, State Senator Anthony Petruccelli topped the ticket in Ward I with 8,158 votes. Petruccelli destroyed Republican challenger Tom Dooley here 88 percent to 12 percent. Dooley only received 1,141 votes in Eastie.
“Words cannot express how grateful my family and I are for the overwhelming support from the people of the First Suffolk and Middlesex district,” said Petruccelli. “I am excited to get back to work on the issues that are important to residents here during the next legislative session.”
It was a landslide for Petruccelli in the rest of the district where he beat Dooley 82 percent to 18 percent and received 44,155 votes district-wide.
Representative Carlo Basile ran unopposed during Tuesday’s election and received 8,081 and was second on the ticket to Petruccelli in Eastie. Both Petruccelli and Basile received more votes than Obama and Warren during the election.
“I am very grateful and excited that I will continue to serve East Boston as the neighborhood’s State Representative,” said Basile. “I want to thank all the voters for their support during last week’s election.”
U.S. Congressman Michael Capuano was reelected and beat Republican challenger Karla Romero here in Eastie 82 percent to 18 percent. Capuano received 7,561 votes in Eastie to Romero’s 1,677 votes. Citywide Capuano received 130,453 (82%) to Romero’s 27,176 (17%).
Eastie resident Patricia Campatelli, who was unopposed in the General Election for Register of Probate received 175,311 (98%) votes citywide. In Ward I Campatelli, who beat City Councilor Sal LaMattina in the Democratic Primary, 7,132 votes.
While the Latino vote here has been quite during past elections, a strong ‘Get out the Vote’ by both the Obama and Warren camps registered many new Latino voters here. The Latino vote accounted for 17 percent of the total voter turnout in Eastie during last week’s election. Nationally, Latinos and African Americans helped offset Romney’s popularity amongst white male voters in his bid for reelection.