Republican Charlie Baker eked out a victory over Democrat Martha Coakley and three other challengers during the Nov. 4 general election, but in Jamaica Plain the results were a bit different. JP voters went overwhelmingly for Coakley, while also bucking the statewide trend on several of the ballot questions.
Coakley garnered a commanding 81 percent of JP voters, or around 11,950 votes, while Baker brought home just 15 percent. Evan Falchuk of the United Independent Party collected 3 percent, while independent candidates Jeff McCormick and Scott Lively drew less than 1 percent each. Because voting wards don’t exactly match neighborhood boundaries, an exact JP vote number is impossible to calculate.
There were also four ballot questions that were decided, and JP voters went against the state results on three of them:
- Question 1 was approved and will eliminate the requirement that the state gas tax be adjusted annually to inflation. But JP voted against the question 71 to 29 percent.
- Question 2 would have expanded the state’s beverage container deposit law to cover non-alcoholic, non-carbonated drinks with some exceptions. It was voted down statewide, but JP voted to approve the question 63 to 37 percent.
- Question 3 was also voted down. It would have repealed the state casino law. JP voted to approve the question 59 percent to 41 percent.
- Question 4 was approved and will entitle certain employees to earned sick time under certain conditions. JP also voted to approve the question 86 to 14 percent.