On Nov. 5, Americans all across the country cast ballots for the next President of the United States. The following day, Democrat Vice President Kamala Harris conceded the election and the Associated Press announced Donald Trump to be the winner of the 2024 election. Nationally, Former President, now President-Elect Donald J. Trump captured all seven swing states and won both the electoral and popular votes — winning 312 electoral votes and 50% of the popular vote. 

Among these voters were the residents of Waltham. The Watch City is reported having a lower voter turnout than the 2020 presidential race.

According to the unofficial election results provided by the City of Waltham, 26,947 people voted in the city — nearly 3000 less than what was reported in the previous election. Of these voters, Harris received 17,869 votes and Trump tallied 7,742 votes. In other words, Harris received about 66% of the votes and Trump around 22%; the other remaining percentages were received by various third party candidates and write-in votes.

Massachusetts is a historically blue state. The last time the Commonwealth voted for a Republican candidate in the presidential election was Ronald Reagan in 1984. In 2016,  the City of Waltham recorded that 25,918 votes were received and Hillary Clinton won 17,103 of them; Trump had 7,494 votes.

At the state level, incumbent Fifth District Representative Katherine M. Clark and incumbent Senator Elizabeth Warren. Clark’s contest was unchallenged and received 19,814 votes from Waltham. Warren beat Republican challenger, trial attorney and U.S. Marine veteran John Deaton, winning with 17,249 votes from Waltham voters while 8,432 voters were in support of Deaton. At the state level, 1,989,268 votes voted to re-elected Warren while Deaton won 40% of the state votes with 1,348,466 votes. 

Along with the national and state office level seats, Massachusetts voters also voted on five questions. 

Question 1, which would allow audit of the state senator, passed. The majority of Waltham residents voted in favor — 17,538 voted “Yes” and 6,942 voted in opposition. 

Question 2, which would drop the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System test requirement for students to graduate, passed. Waltham voters were divided over this question, but ultimately voted in favor of getting rid of the requirement with 14,944 Waltham residents voting in favor while 10,628 voted in opposition. The MCAS will continue to be implemented for curriculum development purposes and assessing areas of improvement.

Question 3, which would allow rideshare drivers to unionize, passed. 14,158 Waltham voters were in favor of allowing rideshare drivers to unionize, while 10,505 voted “No.”  

Question 4, which would provide limited legalization of the use of certain psychedelic substances, was overall defeated. With a margin of just 1,068 votes, Waltham residents voted against the legalization of the growth, possession and use of a personal amount of psychedelic substances.

Question 5, which would raise the minimum wage for tipped employees, was defeated with 14827 Waltham residents voting “no.”

Additionally, Waltham voters encountered a Question 6 on their ballots aimed at legislation to create a single-payer system of publicly administered universal healthcare, which received an overwhelming majority of “Yes” votes in the city. The question only appears on 11 state representative district ballots, including the 10th Middlesex district which covers Waltham. The non-binding question received support with 4,255 “Yes” votes, and only 1,789 votes cast in opposition. The vote was more symbolic, demonstrating how voters would like their representative vote on the issue of Medicare for All. 

The 2020 presidential election was recorded to have the highest voter turnout in American history. It is unclear why voter turnout decreased in Waltham this most recent election. Although Harris performed well in Waltham, President-elect Donald Trump will take office on Jan. 20, 2025 alongside running mate J.D. Vance.