Election 2018: Cape Cod Voters Return Incumbents to Office

HYANNIS –  Cape Cod voters returned all three state representatives, two state senators and an incumbent congressman who faced challenges in Tuesday’s election.

In the Second Barnstable State Representative District, Republican Will Crocker held off a challenge from Democrat Paul Cusack by a 52-to-48 percent margin.

Crocker thanked his supports for all their work and said he looked forward to returning to Beacon Hill in January.

“Every two years you get a job review and the people of the Second Barnstable said I was doing a good job and are going to give me another two-year deal,” said Crocker.

“We’re going to continue to bring forward a piece of legislation that I’ve been working on, which will be a permanent funding source for opioid addiction programs for non-profits and schools,” Crocker said about measure he’ll tackle in a new term.

Republican First Barnstable State Representative Tim Whelan defeated Democrat challenger Steve Leibowitz by a 58-to-41 margin.

Whelan said he was pleased with the solid victory.

“It was a campaign based on issues and hard work. The past four years I’ve been in office, it’s been all hard work and that’s what I ran on,” he said.

Whelan said it was a grassroots campaign that led to victory.

“Between the doors that we knocked, the phones we dialed, the people we spoke to, the people we spoke to, our message got out there,” said Whelan.

In the Fifth Barnstable State Representative seat, Republican Randy Hunt retained his seat against Democrat Jack Stanton.

“Thank you to everybody who wrote letters to any of the newspapers, all of that matters,” Hunt said in his victory speech to supporters.

“I’m really proud that I’ll be hitting the ground running and raising my right hand to swear my oath to the Massachusetts and U.S. Constitution on the first Wednesday of January,” said Hunt.

In the race for Cape and Islands State Senate, Democrat incumbent Julian Cyr will return to Beacon Hill after defeating Republican John Flores.

“We have taken a grassroots strategy that we’re going to go neighbor to neighbor, door to door,” said Cyr.

He plans on continuing his work on fighting the opioid epidemic on the Cape in his next term.

In the Plymouth/Barnstable State Senate race, incumbent Republican Vinny deMacedo easily defeated a challenge from Democrat Deb Rudolph by a wide margin.

Republican Second Plymouth State Representative Susan Gifford defeated Democrat Sarah Hewins 57-to-43 percent. It’s the second time Gifford has defeated Hewins, who also lost a race two years ago. 

Ninth District Congressman William Keating easily held off a challenge from Republican businessman Peter Tedeschi and will return to Washington in the new Democratic majority.

“We took back our government. This is the first big step and we did it. And what was at stake? The same principles, this idea of America,” Keating told supporters in Hyannis.

“We’re going to work to protect those basic core beliefs and our health care rights,” said Keating.

He serves on the House Foreign Affairs and Homeland Security committees and has positioned himself as a national security expert.

Tedeschi, a Norwell native who had run unopposed in September’s primary, campaigned on a pledge to use his business experience in Washington.

In the race for Barnstable County Commissioner, incumbent Republican Leo Cakounes was leading Democrat challenger Ron Bergstrom early Wednesday morning, but the race was still close to call with two Outer Cape towns yet to report vote totals. With 98 percent of the precincts reporting, Cakounes leads Bergstrom 53,548 to 52,172.

Click here to view all the results.

By MATT PITTA, with reporting from BRIAN MERCHANT, TIM DUNN, JUSTIN SAUNDERS, JOHN BONDAREK, MATT MCCARTHY and ROB WOODARD

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