Since Democrats were unopposed in so many districts, Republicans could not regain control of the chamber.
If Republicans were to make any gains, it would have been in the 29 districts that had general election competition between two major party candidates; only 19 seats were competitive or mildly competitive in 2014.[1]
Republicans needed to pick up 20 seats to break up the supermajority.
Elections for the Massachusetts House of Representatives took place in 2016. The primary election took place on September 8, 2016, and the general election was held on November 8, 2016. The candidate filing deadline was June 7, 2016.
Massachusetts saw a decrease in general election competition.
Ballotpedia conducts a yearly study of electoral competitiveness in state legislative elections. Details on how well Massachusetts performed in the study are provided in the image below. Click here for the full 2016 Competitiveness Analysis »
In the Massachusetts State Senate, there were 34 Democratic incumbents and six Republican incumbents. Three incumbents faced primary opposition in the Democratic Party. There was one primary challenge in the Republican primary.
In the House, there were 126 Democratic incumbents and 34 Republican incumbents. Seventeen state representatives faced primary opposition in the Democratic Party. There were no primary challenges in the Republican primary.
Overall, 18.6 percent of Democratic incumbents and 21.4 percent of GOP incumbents faced primary opposition in all of the state legislatures with elections in 2016.
The cumulative figure for how many state legislative candidates faced no major party opposition in November in these states was 41.8 percent. This compares to 32.7 percent in 2010, 38.3 percent in 2012, and 43.0 percent in 2014.
More details on electoral competitiveness in Massachusetts can be found below.
• Candidate lists can change frequently throughout an election season. Ballotpedia staff update this list monthly. To suggest changes, click here to email our State Legislature Project.
• Candidate lists can change frequently throughout an election season. Ballotpedia staff update this list monthly. To suggest changes, click here to email our State Legislature Project.
The average margin of victory for contested races in the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 2016 was lower than the national average. Out of 160 races in the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 2016, 44 were contested, meaning at least two candidates competed for that seat in the general election. The average margin of victory across these races was 28.7 percent. Across contested single-winner state legislative elections in 2016, the average margin of victory was 29.01 percent.[3]
Democratic candidates in the Massachusetts House of Representatives saw larger margins of victory than Republican candidates in 2016. Democrats won 125 races. In the 26 races where a winning Democrat faced a challenger, the average margin of victory was 36.8 percent. Republicans won 35 races in 2016. In the 18 races where a winning Republican faced a challenger, the average margin of victory was 17.1 percent.
More Republican candidates than Democratic candidates saw margins of victory that were less than 10 percentage points. Eight of the 44 contested races in 2016—18.2 percent—saw margins of victory that were 10 percent or less. Two races saw margins of victory that were 5 percent or less. Republicans won seven races with margins of victory of 10 percent or less.
Massachusetts House of Representatives: 2016 Margins of Victory Less than 10 Percent
The average margin of victory for incumbents in the Massachusetts House of Representatives who ran for re-election and won in 2016 was lower than the national average. One hundred forty-seven incumbents who ran for re-election in 2016 won. The average margin of victory for the 37 winning Massachusetts House of Representatives incumbents who faced a challenger in 2016 was 31.4 percent. The average margin of victory for all winning incumbents in contested single-winner state legislative elections in 2016 was 31.8 percent.
Democratic incumbents in the Massachusetts House of Representatives saw larger margins of victory than Republican incumbents. 114 Democratic incumbents won re-election. In the 21 races where a winning Democratic incumbent faced a challenger, the average margin of victory was 42.2 percent. 33 Republican incumbents won re-election. In the 16 races where a winning Republican incumbent faced a challenger, the average margin of victory was 17.3 percent.
Massachusetts House of Representatives: 2016 Margin of Victory Analysis
The calendar below lists important dates for political candidates in Massachusetts in 2016.
Dates and requirements for candidates in 2016
Deadline
Event type
Event description
May 3, 2016
Ballot access
Last day for party and non-party candidates for district and county offices to submit nomination papers to registrars of voters for signature certification
May 10, 2016
Ballot access
Last day for party candidates for federal and statewide offices candidates to submit nomination papers to registrars of voters for signature certification
May 31, 2016
Ballot access
Last day for party and non-party candidates for district and county offices to file nomination papers with the secretary of the commonwealth
June 7, 2016
Ballot access
Last day for party candidates for federal and statewide offices to file nomination papers with the secretary of the commonwealth
August 2, 2016
Ballot access
Last day for non-party candidates for federal and statewide offices candidates to submit nomination papers to registrars of voters for signature certification
August 30, 2016
Ballot access
Last day for non-party candidates for federal and statewide offices to file nomination papers with the secretary of the commonwealth
September 8, 2016
Election date
Primary election
September 12, 2016
Campaign finance
Pre-primary report due (covering January 1, 2016–September 2, 2016)
October 31, 2016
Campaign finance
Pre-election report due (covering September 3, 2016–October 21, 2016)
November 8, 2016
Election date
General election
January 20, 2017
Campaign finance
Year-end report due (covering October 22, 2016–December 31, 2016)
In 131 (81.9%) of the 160 seats up for election in 2016, there was only one major party candidate running for election. A total of 111 Democrats and 20 Republicans were guaranteed election barring unforeseen circumstances.
Two major party candidates faced off in the general election in 29 (18.1%) of the 160 seats up for election.
Seventeen incumbents faced primary competition on September 8. Nine seats were open, leaving 134 incumbents who advanced past the primary without opposition.
Nine incumbent representatives did not run for re-election, while 151 ran for re-election. A list of those incumbents, nine Democrats, can be found above.
There were 6,057 seats in 87 chambers with elections in 2014. All three aspects of Ballotpedia's Competitiveness Index—the number of open seats, incumbents facing primary opposition, and general elections between partisan candidates—showed poor results compared to the prior election cycle. States with elections in 2014 held fewer general elections between partisan candidates. Additionally, fewer incumbents faced primary opposition and more incumbents ran for re-election than in recent years.
Since 2010, when the Competitiveness Index was established, there had not been an even-year election cycle to do statistically worse in any of the three categories. See the following chart for a breakdown of those scores between each year.
Uncontested elections: In 2014, 32.8 percent of Americans lived in states with an uncontested state senate election. Similarly, 40.4 percent of Americans lived in states with uncontested house elections. Primary elections were uncontested even more frequently, with 61 percent of people living in states with no contested primaries. Uncontested elections often occur in locations that are so politically one-sided that the result of an election would be a foregone conclusion regardless of whether it was contested or not.
Open seats: In most cases, an incumbent will run for re-election, which decreases the number of open seats available. In 2014, 83 percent of the 6,057 seats up for election saw the incumbent running for re-election. The states that impose term limits on their legislatures typically see a higher percentage of open seats in a given year because a portion of incumbents in each election are forced to leave office. Overall, the number of open seats decreased from 2012 to 2014, dropping from 21.2 percent in 2012 to 17.0 percent in 2014.
Incumbent win rates: Ballotpedia's competitiveness analysis of elections between 1972 and 2014 documented the high propensity for incumbents to win re-election in state legislative elections. In fact, since 1972, the win rate for incumbents had not dropped below 90 percent—with the exception of 1974, when 88 percent of incumbents were re-elected to their seats. Perhaps most importantly, the win rate for incumbents generally increased over time. In 2014, 96.5 percent of incumbents were able to retain their seats. Common convention holds that incumbents are able to leverage their office to maintain their seat. However, the high incumbent win rate may actually be a result of incumbents being more likely to hold seats in districts that are considered safe for their party.
Marginal primaries: Often, competitiveness is measured by examining the rate of elections that have been won by amounts that are considered marginal (5 percent or less). During the 2014 election, 90.1 percent of primary and general election races were won by margins higher than 5 percent. Interestingly, it is usually the case that only one of the two races—primary or general—will be competitive at a time. This means that if a district's general election is competitive, typically one or more of the district's primaries were won by more than 5 percent. The reverse is also true: If a district sees a competitive primary, it is unlikely that the general election for that district will be won by less than 5 percent. Primaries often see very low voter turnout in comparison to general elections. In 2014, there were only 27 million voters for state legislative primaries, but approximately 107 million voters for the state legislative general elections.
The following chart shows how many candidates ran for State House in Massachusetts in past years and the cumulative amount of campaign contributions in State House races, including contributions in both primary and general election contests.[5]
The map below shows the average contributions to 2014 candidates for state houses. The average contributions raised by state house candidates in 2014 was $59,983. Massachusetts, at $42,485 per candidate, is ranked 24 of 45 for state house chambers with the highest average contributions. Hover your mouse over a state to see the average campaign contributions for that state’s house candidates in 2014.[5][6]
Article LXXI of the Massachusetts Constitution states: "Every representative, for one year at least immediately preceding his election, shall have been an inhabitant of the district for which he is chosen and shall cease to represent such district when he shall cease to be an inhabitant of the commonwealth."[7]
↑Under Ballotpedia's competitiveness criteria, districts that have a margin of victory of less than 5 percent are considered highly competitive. Districts that have a margin of victory from 5 to 10 percent are considered mildly competitive.
↑Incumbent Garrett Bradley (D) unexpectedly resigned, leaving the seat vacant and without any primary candidates on the ballot.
↑This calculation excludes chambers that had elections where two or more members were elected in a race. These chambers are the Arizona House, the New Hampshire House, the North Dakota House, the South Dakota House, the Vermont House, the Vermont Senate, and the West Virginia House.
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