By Dan Murphy and Seth Daniel
While some local Democratic leaders were shocked by the outcome of Super Tuesday, especially with Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s third-place finish in her home state, they agree that defeating Presidential Trump in November is their top priority.
According to the City of Boston’s unofficial citywide election results, former Vice President Joe Biden narrowly edged out Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, with 30.11 percent (43,210 votes) and 30.07 percent of the ballot (43,154 votes), respectively. Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth trailed with 27.31 percent of the ballot (39,188 votes) while former New York City Mayor finished fourth with 8.28 percent, or 11,878 votes.
In the downtown neighborhoods, Warren didn’t win a single precinct out of 29, though she tied Biden in the Back Bay’s St. Cecilia precinct (5-9).
Meanwhile, Biden surged in the downtown, particularly in the South End, Beacon Hill and in the heart of the Back Bay. Biden took 17 of the 19 precincts over the downtown. Meanwhile, Sanders was strong in the Fenway and Lower Roxbury, taking 11 of the 29 precincts.
Many believed that the switch to Biden came at the last minute following his win in South Carolina last weekend, or maybe even later than that. City Councilor Kenzie Bok, who supported Warren, said she could sense the shift.
“Talking to Boston voters, what I saw was a huge amount of energy aimed at beating Donald Trump, leading to really high turnout,” City Councilor Kenzie Bok wrote. “Many of those voters shifted to supporting Biden in the last 48 hours, which I heard firsthand as I canvassed for Warren. A sense of momentum for Biden through the national-level media had an enormous impact; in a fluid race, his surge came at exactly the right time for him and the wrong time for Warren, swamping even our much stronger ground operation.”
While admittedly disappointed by the election results for Sen. Warren, whom she described as the best candidate to defeat Trump, Councilor Bok added, “But I was encouraged by the collective commitment to defeating Trump, and the enthusiastic support for our grassroots progressive Ward 5 Democratic Committee at the bottom of the ballot.”
State Rep. Jay Livingstone was also pleased to see Democratic voters galvanized in the election with the objective of unseating President Trump.
“I think voters were very excited to vote in the Democratic primary yesterday and seemed most focused on who would be the best candidate to beat Trump,” Rep. Livingstone wrote.
Jonathan Cohn, chair of the Boston Ward 4 Democratic Committee, attributes a 15-percent increase in voter turnout citywide from the 2016 Democratic primary to three factors – Boston’s subsequent population growth, the “mobilization” of new voters and the fact that many unaffiliated voters who “pulled” a Republic primary ballot four years ago shifted to a Democratic primary ballot in this election.
“Overall, I do think the results show that Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar’s dropping out, and the heavy media coverage of Biden’s South Carolina win, gave him a lot of momentum into yesterday despite not having a strong presence on the ground,” Cohn wrote. “Whether that momentum continues, though, depends on whether progressive organizations are able to do more mobilization and collaboration work to push for a more progressive nominee.”
Massachusetts Democratic Party Chair Gus Bickford pointed to the voter turnout on Super Tuesday across all 14 participating states as a clear indication that “Democrats are energized and are eager to turn the page on the dark presidency of Donald Trump.”
Bickford added, “An incredible number of voters cast ballots in this Democratic primary for President because while income inequality is growing, while climate change is destroying our planet, and while racial inequities are persisting, the policies of Donald Trump have only made these and other crises worse. [Super Tuesday] marks the beginning of the reckoning for Donald Trump.”
Across the aisle, however, Brad Parscale, Trump 2020 campaign manager, asserted that the election results suggest a sense of indecisiveness on the part of Democratic voters.
“The results only increase the likelihood that no candidate will have enough delegates for a first ballot victory at their convention, which only means more chaos,” Parscale said in an official statement. “The media is hyperventilating about Joe Biden, but everyone should remember that he is just as terrible a candidate right now as he was a few days ago. At the same time, establishment Democrats have ganged up to try to deny Bernie Sanders the nomination, which is causing even more mayhem. Even if Bernie is not on November’s ballot, his big government socialist ideas will be because they have become mainstream in today’s Democrat Party. President Trump will wipe the floor with whatever Democrat is unlucky enough to be the nominee.”
On the Republican side, President Donald Trump easily topped the Boston Republican ballot with 6,469 votes (81.8 percent). Former Gov. William Weld garnered 982 votes (12.4 percent).
The Libertarian Party nomination went to Jacob George Hornberger with 34 votes (12.5 percent). The Green Party in Boston chose Dario Hunter with 26 votes (20.63 percent). The complete lists of winners by Precinct is as follows:
BACK BAY/BAY VILLAGE/ BEACON HILL
•5-1 (Bay Village, Franklin Institute) – Biden, 459 votes.
•5-2/2a (Fenway/Kenmore, Boston Arts) – Sanders, 341 votes.
•5-3 (Boston Common, State House) – Biden, 292 votes.
•5-4 (Beacon Hill top, West End Library) – Biden, 298 votes.
•5-5 (Beacon Hill Charles St., Hill House) – Biden, 131 votes.
•5-6 (Back Bay 1, Emmanuel Episcopal) – Biden, 272 votes.
•5-7 (Back Bay 2, Copley Square Library) – Biden, 304 votes.
•5-8 (Back Bay 3, Copley Square Library) – Biden, 275 votes.
•5-9 (Back Bay 4, St. Cecilias) – (Tie) Warren/Biden, 331 votes.
•5-10 (Back Bay 5, BU, Kilachand Hall) – Sanders, 190 votes.
•5-11 (Beacon Hill Top, Hill House) – Biden, 212 votes.
SOUTH END/FENWAY
•4-1 (South End, McKinley School) – Biden, 356 votes.
•4-2 (South End, Tent City) – Biden, 410 votes.
•4-3 (South End, McKinley School) – Biden, 285 votes.
•4-4 (South End, Frederick Douglass Apts.) – Biden, 306 votes.
•4-5 (Back Bay, Symphony Plaza East) – Biden, 190 votes.
•4-6 (Fenway, Morville House) – Sanders, 161 votes.
•4-7 (Fenway, Morville House) – Sanders, 152 votes.
•4-8 (St. Botolph, Symphony Plaza West) – Sanders, 173 votes.
•4-9 (Fenway, Wentworth Institute) – Sanders, 100 votes.
•4-10 (Fenway, Simmons College) – Sanders, 97 votes.
•3-7 (South End, Cathedral High) – Biden, 694 votes.
•8-1 (South End, Cathedral High) – Biden, 145 votes.
•8-2 (South End, Cathedral High) – Biden, 290 votes.
•8-3 (Worcester Square, Orchard Gardens CC) – Sanders, 124 votes.
•9-1 (South End, Youth Development 100 W. Dedham) – Sanders, 220 votes.
•9-2 (South End, Washington Manor Apts.) – Biden, 348 votes.
•9-3 (South End, Hampton House) – Sanders, 339 votes.
•9-4 (Lower Roxbury, Madison Park Complex Hayes House) – Sanders, 195 votes.