It’s Election Day in America! Part 4

And your complete coverage of campaign twenty twenty four is right here on Boston's news station WBZ, Boston's news radio.

Lots of things to vote on today. On election day in Massachusetts, voters were asked a few questions at the ballot box ballid questions, five of them. Wbz's Nicole Davis has been keeping an eye on the results. Slow to get the results in, I guess, but you want to get them right, of course.

Well, of course, absolutely every vote counts, and we are getting these results slowly but surely. And as for question one, the question about auditing the legislature, Yes on one, since we first started getting these results around eight o'clock has had a pretty healthy lead, with thirty three percent of the results in it stays that way seventy one to

No.

On five, still on top here, sixty five to thirty five percent. And then then we've got another question all about mental health treatment.

That is right, Nicole.

Question four is all about the ability to grow and use certain psychedelics. Wbz's Jared Brosnan as more on that.

Question four asks voters to consider the legalization of naturally occurring psychedelic drugs like DMT, mescalin, and psilocybin aka what's found in magic mushrooms. If passed, anyone over twenty one years old can grow, share, or use psychedelics at home as long as they stay.

Below the legal threshold for each substance.

But outside of growing them yourself, the only way to get the substances is through licensed professionals, so it wouldn't be as easy as going to a dispensary for marijuana or a liquor store for alcohol. Those against legalization point to the potential health risks from adverse reactions to the drugs and say they're unsure how the state can regulate at home use. They also worry about a lack of a breathalyzer type device that can instantly detect whether someone's

When it comes to question four for a bit, the race was pretty much fifty to fifty, but with thirty one percent reporting now no votes arranging out fifty seven to forty three percent. Marijuana has also been a top issue in a lot of states this election day. Massachusetts legalized recreational pot in twenty sixteen. This year, voters in Florida rejected a ballid measure to legalize recreational marijuana in their state. In the Dakotas, voters had similar measures. Those

With that win, next year New Hampshire, we'll have his third woman governor in the state's history, former US Senator Kelly Ayot defeating former Manchester Mayor Democrat Joyce Craig. Now, this was one of the most competitive gubernatorial races in the country. Addressing supporters in Salem, Ayot called her win a victory for an even brighter future for the greatest state in the nation. Craig posting on exit, she was proud of the race that they ran, and said she

All right then Vermont Republican Governor Phil Scott he won reelection to his fifth two year term. Democrat Josh Stein wins the North Carolin a lot of Google to Torto race. He beat Republican incombent Mark Robinson, whose campaign was dragged into the national limelfe about reports of controversial comments he allegedly made in the past. Governor Lex Stein thanking his supporters after the race was called.

We chose hope over hates, competence over chaos, decency over division. That's who we are as North Carolinians.

Meantime, the presidential race in North Carolina is still too close to call, though it is leaning toward former President Donald Trump's favor. And we want to give you another update on the presidential race numbers. Kabla Harris has won

Emma Ben Democrats are facing strong headwinds to defend their narrow fifty one to forty nine majority. There's still thirteen races to be called. The GOP has gained one seat in West Virginia, with Jim Justice that seat replacing Senator Joe Manchin. Ohio is still counting the votes as of now, Republican Bernie and Marino is leading with eighty five percent of the votes counted. If he wins, that would flip

And in Maryland, Democrat Angela also Brooks has projected to win the Senate race there. Also, Brooks spoke about her opponent, former Governor Larry Hogan, after the race was called.

I received a call from Governor Hogan congratulating me on tonight's victory, offering his congratulations and the congratulations of you. Me and I know that we both share a very deep love from Maryland and commitment to Maryland, so I certainly want to thank him so much for his service.

Also, Brooks will be the first black woman to represent Maryland in the US Senate, Richard Neil holding off his challenger for the Massachusetts first Congressional district. There were three other races with challengers, but five of the congress Members of Congress from Massachusetts were unopposed this time around, Jay Cochincloss, Seth Moulten, and Catherine Clark among them. In Connecticut, Senator

For Julia Mitchell, this election day is different from every other. This first time in my life, I vote. I'm sixty going on sixty seven. After decades on the political sideline, She's decided to vote on this one. Julia wasn't Donald Trump's camp during his presidency, but his behavior in the last days of the campaign trails motivated her to cast a ballot against him.

A president shouldn't make derogatory, you know, remarks about anybody.

Plenty of voters here at a West Roxbury polling station tell me the act of voting is a sacred right and duty. It's all the more powerful for Brandon, who is stripped from the voter rules in Texas nearly a dozen times before coming here. It's meant a lot to me to be able to just come down here and just vote. And the power of the vote reaches across the aisle for this Trump voter too.

No, I always want I think it's the right thing to do.

Obviously, a lot of people fought in this country to be able to vote.

So Kyle Schaffel w BS Boston's news Radio.

More of the votes are being counted, a couple more states still need to close their poll We'll keep you up the date here on WBZ throughout the evening, the overnight hours, and of course join us tomorrow morning.

First thing.

Jeff Brown will be here with all of the information you need to start your day and trafficing weather together as well. I'm Ben Parker.

Night side with Dan Ray Election Night in America WBZ, Boston's news Radio.

I'm delighted to welcome back to our microphone someone who's become a regular guest on all of these big election nights, Former Lieutenant Governor Calmwealth of Massachusetts.

Tom O'Neil, the third and the.

Namesake son of I think the greatest House speaker in history, Former House Speaker Tom Tip O'Neil. Tom O'Neil, welcome back to night's side. I know this is not a great night for your party, but i'd love to get your reaction to it as it is evolving. It's not over until the Fat Lady sings, as they say, but here a warming up.

I thought it would be a better Nightdea, and it's turning out to be. We needed to do better in states like New Hampshire in Virginia than we've done, although we probably will win both of those states. Then we needed to go south and do better in North Carolina and Georgia. And Kamala Harris is just not doing as well as Joe Biden did four years ago, and she may well lose both of those states. And though it

So I guess there's no one who I know who's more experienced politically than you, because obviously you learned, you know, at your father's.

Me literally growing up. How can you I never thought.

That after January sixth, Donald Trump would be able, after all that he has gone through and you know, impeachments, indictments, could ever get back to this point. I thought he could cobble together the nomination. But I've never seen a I know that America loves comebacks, but I've never seen a political comeback of this magnitude. If indeed he does prevail tonight.

If he does, and and add to that, Dan his rhetoric over the last two weeks, yeah, yeah, he's an off message. He's not he's not targeted at his own his own his own target and base groups. We all as political strategies really can't understand how he's done as well tonight and today as he has done. I think the better news side of the story is we may well lose the Senate, but it looks like we're going to go back and win the House of Representatives of the US Congress.

I haven't I haven't thought that I had seth molten on and I asked him about last hour, and I know it's it's very close.

I think that.

Sharon Brown has just lost Ohio to the Republican candidate.

They called it. And it looks like John Testa might lose in Montana, which would lose, which would leave us for a two seat deficit in the US Senate. But it looks as well that we might pick up five or six seats in the US House and it will give us some macharity in the House. And and that's great news for balance, you know, balance and in the in the in the Congress and the edit policy creation.

I think most people like to have that that sort of balance. So let me ask you, uh, I guess a tougher question. Does the leadership well First of first of all, does the leadership of the Democratic Party. I'm talking Chuck Schumer and uh, you know Nancy Pelosi who no longer is the speaker. But do they have to at this point give way to new new leadership, you know within the Democratic Party, people like Seth Moulton and others who may maybe more in the following the Tip

I do think, Dan, that we have to come back and reassess what it is Donald Trump, what he's talking to, what is his base, what are they listening to? What is it they want? We want delivering for them. The fact of the matter is, I am I've always considered myself a progressive. Yeah, by today's by today's logic, I'd be a moderate if I were in the US Congress.

That's well said, well said. So my other question, and again I know that you know the president have known the president for a long time. I wonder if he is tonight thinking to himself if I wasn't forced out or maybe you accept that, maybe you don't, but I think he was kind of forced out that he can look back and say, hey, I was I passed in twenty sixteen. I beat this guy in twenty in twenty twenty, and I could have beaten him again tonight. Do you think regrets within the Biden family?

I think with you know, he's a human being, So I'm sure he's thinking about if it were me, could I have done better than Kamala. The fact of the matter is, I don't know that that would have been the case. I think she turned out to be a very good candidate. I think the people around her gave her a very strong, strategic kind of target, and I think their campaign was right on. That's really the reason I'm saying to myself, I think we need to go back and reassess where it is we've been as a

Well, it looked to me, you.

Know, from Afar, that that there was some natural constituencies which were disappointed. I think that a lot of uh, you know, Jewish voters probably migrated to Trump, and I think, ironically, at the same time, there were Muslim voters who migrated to Trump simultaneously. I don't know how he did that, but I think that's what the statistics will show.

I think you're right, and I think we have to figure out how he did to that and what they heard that we didn't understand, to be perfectly honest with you, because how a Jewish community can get behind Trump simply because he moved a capital or an embassy in Israel is extraordinarily beyond me. When the Democratic body has always been the hot of the Israeli state and the Jewish community and has viewed them as our greatest ally.

From Harry Truman, who was the first area coming leader of any country. Tom O'Neill is always I thank you for staying up late. I wish for you. The results were a little bit different.

It's not over yet, but we need me a miracle, but maybe we'll get it. If we don't, we're going to stay back and we're going to continue the good fight. Dan, thanks a minute.

Thank you so much. Tom, who're talking to Okay, see you soon. Goodnight.

All right, we have one other guest coming up, Spencer Kimball Polster who called Iowa correctly. He'll be with us in the next half hour. Stay with WBZ throughout the night. We'll give you the best coverage all the way till morning's early light.

Campaign twenty twenty four America votes. This is WBZ Boston's news.

Radio, sixty one degrees in Boston at eleven thirty. Good evening, I'm Ben Parker. Here's what's happening. Some more states called in the presidential race for Vice president Kamala Harris. She has won thirteen states plus one district in Maine. In the District of Columbia, the latest state to go for Kamala Harris, Oregon. She now has one hundred and eighty seven electoral votes, while former President Donald Trump has now

The Secretary of State says there are twenty eight thousand votes or so that need curing. That means ballots that need to be revised, that need to be validated, and in some cases the voters need to be notified in order for them to fix any issues.

That arise with them.

That process, plus the mail in ballo postmark by election day but arriving until Saturday, November ninth, could significantly delay when we learned the state's total results. Luciano CBS News, Las.

Vegas, Nevada.

In Massachusetts, the senior Senator Elizabeth Warren declaring re election victory. Wbz's Madison Rodgers with more projections.

Say, it's going to be another six years in Washington for Senator Elizabeth Warren.

We have reminded people that government can be harnessed to work not just for the wealthy and well connected, but that week can actually make government work for the people.

Senator took the stage as her campaign and local Democrats celebrate. She outlined a top fight ahead and said in her third term she prioritize things like bringing down the cost of childcare and housing and restoring ropy wave protections. It is still yet to be seen how en reached those goals. Are the balance of power still teetering in Washington, Senator Warren telling the crowd it's going to be a long night, maybe a long week, but no matter what happens.

She's ready for the fight ahead.

In the South End, I'm Madison Rogers, WVZ Boston's news Radio.

On Tremont Street this evening, Warren's Republican challenger, John Deaton concedes alongside his supporters wbz's Mike Macklin with Moore.

Look, I'm disappointing the results.

I'm a competitive guy.

John Deeton conceded defeat in his long shot bid to unseen Senator Elizabeth Warren and told his supporters he has no regrets despite the outcome.

I'm proud of my campaign and how it was run from this entire time. No lies, no name calling, just trying to focus on policy.

In a divisive campaign season. Deaton said he was determined to stay positive.

We show people.

There's a difference between fighting against things and fighting four things, fighting against people and fighting four people. I wish the race was more competitive than it was, but you know, something changes hard.

Deeton said he remains committed to making the Republican Party more competitive in Massachusetts and would not rule out another bid for elective office.

Change.

It takes time, but we need change in this state.

Mike Maclin, WBZ, Bospoon's News Radio.

I got pon WBZ. We'll crunch the numbers on the ballot questions in Massachusetts eleven thirty three as we check traffic and weather together the super retailers of New England all we'll drive traffic on the three is how are we doing, Steve.

Well, We're gonna look north to town where we've got some trouble. On four ninety five. There's a northbound crash after ninety three that's slowing things down. The right lane is blocked there. Then more delays with work northbound at mass af and southbound and andover at Very twenty eight ninety three south of the work rout spot pond.

No delay.

Then the left lane is taken at Roosevelt Circle. That's a speed limited ride one twenty eight north. You're gonna reduce speed passing a set up in Linfield at Walnut Street south of the town.

No trouble.

On the expressway Route twenty four north, you're gonna slow down. There's a lane taken before Route one forty Route three north. Two work zones with minor delays, first in Duxbury at Route fourteen, then by Bergen Parkway four ninety five south, construction in middle at Route twenty eight at the speed limit getting by there a bit slower northbound work after ninety five west of town on the pike work cruise

No delay.

Quiet downtown the deck to connector in the Tobin look good. Airport tunnels and the Pike. Checkout just fine. Steve Perez, WBZ twenty four hour Traffic Network.

All right, we've got pretty decent weather still around these parts. Tomorrow or well, yeah, tomorrow, not later today yet, we're gonna have temperatures in the mid to upper seventies and we might set a record.

Complete coverage of campaign twenty twenty four continues now on WBZ News Radio.

Another update here from the WBZ presidential election results headquarters, New Mexico goes to come La Harris if she picks up the five electoral votes in New Mexico and now has one hundred and ninety two electoral votes compared to two hundred and thirty for Donald Trump. To seventy is the number needed for winning the White House. Will continue to follow these numbers as we head through the evening, and we continue on with our coverage about the questions

Yeah, we're getting an idea. The big news in this report, Ben, is that we have some movement on Question four. No official concession yet, but now we have a statement from the Yes on four campaign that says, quote, we understand that we're concerns about the home grow provisions. Again, this is the psychedelics question. I think go on in the statement to say the concerns have likely led to the question playing out the way it is. That being said, again,

Indeed, Nicole, it's all about the MCAST test that high school graduations. Wz's Brooke McCarthy explains question two right now.

It's something all tenth graders need to take to graduate the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System tests better known as MCASTS. But on the ballot is question two, which would eliminate MCAST as a high school graduation requirement. If Question two does pass, students would still need to take the MCAST exams, but they would no longer need to get a passing score. Instead, the over three hundred school districts across the state would

As of right now, Yes On two remains up when it comes to results, fifty nine to forty one percent. Just over fifty percent of the votes have been reported. Exit polls from ABC show democracy, the economy, and abortion rights are top concerns among voters as the nation and chooses its next president. ABC's with Johnson's at mar Lago, where former President Trump is spending this election night.

There are a lot of young men in the audience here. I was at Madison Square Garden with that big rally there, some twenty thousand people, and I spoke to a lot of these young men and asked them what it was about Donald Trump that appealed to them. Many of them either weren't old enough to vote before, or maybe didn't participate in politics in the past, but they were drawn to him for a variety of reasons. Immigration and the

And former President Trump has already won the state of Florida and its thirty electoral votes. Meantime, the Harris campaign is convening at her alma mater, Howard University. Even though the former president has a lead in the electoral college and popular vote, the vice President is hoping her work and swing states like Nevada will help to flip the tide where voters are concerned about the economy.

The Hairs campaign is well aware of all of those issues, especially in Nevada. It's why she unveiled her housing plan in that state. She knew that she had to hammer home the issue of the economy and make clear that that was going to be her top priority, that lowering the cost of groceries was going to be at their very first priority. When she gets into office, She always said she would pass if elected, this big economic package

And was enough.

That is ABC's Mary Bruce. Florida voters strike down a ballot measure aimed at loosening that states strict limits on reproductive rights.

Florida voters have rejected an abortion rights amendment and are keeping in place Governor Ron DeSantis's six week ban. The initiative failed to get the sixty percent threshold required. The measure faced an uphill battle in the deeply read state, where former President Donald Trump, a Florida resident, said during the campaign he would vote against the measure. About one fourth of voters have said abortion policy was the single

I'm Haefendwani in New Hampshire. Voters deciding on the states two congressional seats and the race for governor, and it is a brand new governor coming in. We now know who that brand new governor will be, Sherry'small.

That's why I've been in the race for governor. It's Republican Canada Kelly Aot who takes the win tonight, beating Democrat Joyce Craig. Aot came into this race with widespread name recognition as a former US Senator and former attorney general. She also had the endorsement of Republican Governor Christan UNW Craig, the former mayor of Manchester, the Granite State's largest city, posted on x that she was proud of the race that they ran in said that she called Aot to

Ben all Right, thanks a lot, cherry, and most states have closed their polls. Only Alaska and Hawaii have not, and this election day is just about behind us. But CBS's Nicole Skanga tells us today's voting was not without a few scanners.

Officials and at least two states made in Georgia say police have responded to threats against schools and polling places today, none of them credible. Brad Raffensberger, the Georgia Secretary of State, saying in a news conference that officials had identified the source that it was from Russia. The FBI also putting out a statement indicating many of the threats appear to originate from Russian email to.

Mean maintime officials say the US Capital Visitors Center was closed this afternoon after a man tried to get into that building with a torch and a flare gun. Former President Donald Trump is trying to do something that has not been done since the late eighteen hundreds become president for a second non consecutive term, the last and only person to do it.

Dear, this is your old pal, Grover.

Our old pal, Grover Cleveland turned the trick. He was elected as the twenty second president, served from eighteen eighty five to eighteen eighty nine, and, after being defeated by Benjamin Harrison, won the presidency again as the twenty fourth president and served from eighteen ninety three to eighteen ninety seven. Cleveland's loss in eighteen eighty eight featured him winning the

Our election night coverage continues now with night Side with Dan Ray on WBZ, Boston's news Radio.

Well, I'm delighted to be joined as our final guest tonight here on the Night Side portion of the special twenty twenty four presidential election program by Emerson College poster Spencer Kimball. Spencer welcome back, Thanks so much for being with us for a few minutes. To end my evening here, I have to say that I'm following this race very closely and I'm particularly watching Iowa, and I know you don't want to talk about it, but I just want to say congratulations.

You called Iowa.

Over the weekend, the Des Moines Register had a poll which suggested that perhaps Kamala Harris was in the lead of Iowa, and it was a shock poll. You had a poll over the weekend which has hit the final number in Iowa right on the button, fifty five to forty five approximately.

You're not going to take a victory lap.

I know you too well, but I got to tell you you must feel pretty good because there were a lot of people who were looking at that Des Moines Register poll a little more closely than they were looking at your polling in the state of Iowa.

Well, then, it's always pleasure to be with you, and thanks for the coverage this evening. It was a good experiment in different methods in survey research, and that's what in our world. We had a chance last week to talk methodology, where each polster comes up with new methods of how to collect data and how to analyze data.

Now I had my eye on Iowa tonight, I assume you did as well.

But you're very gracious in your comments tonight.

So I'm going to move on here and tell you that I kept a particular look for it because I take some pride in the hometown team and you and a friend Dave Paleologus and John Zogby as well are the three poles is where I rely upon. So thank you for being available tonight.

We well, we lived up to the expectation there.

You sure did you sure did?

Uh.

You've also lived up to the expectation tonight. I think this race is going very much in the way that that many thought. But what I mean, it looks to me as if Donald Trump is going to be the president elect, if not tonight, sometime in the next day or so. Am I reading that?

Yeah? No, no, no, I think we've seen enough in the in the data here, certainly in the voting, that he has outperformed the polls once again. Now you know, we've been pretty good with him. We had him winning these states, but he's winning them by two to three points higher, which is still, you know, a pretty good polling,

It's stunning to think of this. This this this political resurrection. I mean when you think of where he was in twenty twenty one, after the disgraceful events of January sixth, twenty twenty one, and the indictments, all of that, and everything was on the line for him tonight.

I had I spoke with Tom.

O'Neill earlier this hour, and he was trying to figure out I was trying to figure out what is the message that somehow Donald Trump.

Was able to deliver this.

This is almost a realignment election in terms.

Of we're different.

Yeah, so tell it. You can. You can explain that better than I can.

Go ahead, please, well, the working class is becoming Republicans and the upper class is becoming Democrats. And the problem that the Republicans had a few years ago coming out of the Bush years, where that they were the upper class and the Democrats were the working class, and that change of what's happening in real time. But you know, it's happening as you watch these returns in Michigan, in Minnesota, and you know, I think we saw it in real

And the Republicans also also won a took a senencee to.

Way packed up the Senate YEP, and they're going to do the same thing out in Montana. So the question is can the Democrats at this point hold the House? Otherwise the Republicans could potentially walk out with all three chambers and have a lot of power for the next two years.

So what is the message that that Trump Wasn't it as simple as she broke it, I'll fix it. I mean, that was what he came down to at the end. She broke it, I'll fix it.

No, no, no, no, it goes further back, goes back to NaSTA. He's back into the UH, into the into that, to that trade agreement where there's still a lot of you know, yeah, yeah, no, that's deep rooted, but you know he's part of that where hey, that was a mistake. People agree with it. And I think you saw Vance almost get it to a full boil during that vice presidential debate with Walls, where Walls ended up agreeing with them because you know, they were talking about experts and experts,

Yeah, do you think it would have made a difference if Kamala Harris, Kamala Harris had picked Governor Shapiro of Pennsylvania or do you think this.

Was this was baked in the cake.

No.

I think that would have been one event that could have helped. I think there was a series of mistakes that were made on the Harris side and the communication front that opened up or didn't know off enough opportunities for the campaign, and she had to play for that, including not accepting many debates when she initially entered into

Spencer, you you, you and and Dave Paleologus and and John Zogby are the best, simply the best, the three of you.

Thanks so much, my friend Dan, thank you so much for having me.

Any time, anytime we will we'll do We'll do a postmarting on this sometime in the next week or so. Thanks so much. Spencer Kimball Emerson College poster. Extraordinary, extraordinary. That is it for me. But please stay with WBZ. We got great coverage into the early morning hours. This race is not officially over yet. Stay with us.