Graphic by Sunny Wei '23.
Bryn Healy ’24
Staff Writer
The 2022 midterm elections took place on Nov. 8, 2022. There has been a lot of lead up to this election, with several prominent officials such as President Joe Biden and Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren (MA-D) claiming that “democracy is on the ballot,” as noted on Al Jazeera and Warren’s Twitter page. Numerous news outlets, including The Hill, predicted that the slim Democratic majority would fall. It is common for the party in power to switch in the midterm elections, but, as the Daily Kos explains, there have always been exceptions. According to Politico, the outcomes have been pretty evenly split. Both major Democratic candidates like John Fetterman (PA-D) and Gretchen Witmer (MI-D) and big Republican candidates like Greg Abbott (TX-R) and JD Vance (OH-R) won their re-elections. Three states — California, Vermont and Michigan — codified the right to abortion in their state constitutions, according to the New York Times.
Mount Holyoke College is located in the Massachusetts 1st Congressional District, which means district-elect (D) Richard Neal and (R) Dean James Martelli were on the ballot to represent the College’s district this year. Mount Holyoke is also represented by the district attorney from the northwestern district, the state senator from the Hampshire, Hamden and Worcester district, the state representative from the Second Hampshire District and the Governor’s Council from the 8th District. All of the district and elected representatives for MHC can be found on the Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts website.
It was a big election year for South Hadley. In addition to the state election, a special election occurred as well. Sarah Etelman, vice chair of the South Hadley Massachusetts Selectboard, died from pancreatic cancer this June, according to (D) State Senator Jo Comerford’s website. Andrea Miles has taken over the vice chair position until Tuesday’s winner is sworn in in April 2023, according to the South Hadley, Massachusetts website. Comerford, who also represents MHC, was up for re-election on Nov. 8. The Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts website states that for this election Mount Holyoke students who were registered to vote in South Hadley had South Hadley High School as their polling place.
Four ballot measures were voted upon by Massachusetts voters. According to Politico, voters determined that ballot measures 1, 2 and 4 would be passed. The first measure will tax yearly income over a million dollars. The second measure will mandate that dental insurers follow a minimum of 83 percent medical loss ratio requirement, where there was no prior minimum. The fourth measure will allow residents to get drivers licenses “without proof of citizenship or immigration status.” The exact language of these ballot measures can be found on the The Commonwealth of Massachusetts state election website.
MHC students, as of this printing, are now represented by Patrick Cahillane (D) as sheriff, David Sullivan (D) as district attorney, Daniel Carey (D) as Massachusetts House representative, Andrea Campbell (D) as Massachusetts attorney general, William Galvin (D) as Massachusetts secretary of state, Richard E Neal (D) as U.S. House representative, and Maura Healey (D) as the new governor. This information was reported by CNN and the state secretary of Massachusetts. Keep an eye on CNN as more state and national results come in. Senators Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey were not up for re-election this year and will continue to serve until 2024 and 2026 respectively.