PROVINCETOWN — In a strong night for Cape Cod’s Democratic Party, defense attorney Robert Galibois was elected district attorney for the Cape and Islands on Tuesday while lawyer Donna Buckley was elected Barnstable County sheriff. Both posts had been held by Republicans for at least 30 years. Buckley and Galibois often campaigned together, pledging to improve the handling of mental health and substance abuse cases in their respective offices.
Galibois was winning his race with about 56 percent of the vote when this week’s edition of the Independent went to press, while Buckley had a narrower lead of about 52 to 48 percent over her opponent Tim Whelan, a Republican state legislator and former state police officer.
Truro Democrat Julian Cyr was elected to a fourth term as state senator from the Cape and Islands, defeating challenger Chris Lauzon with about 64 percent of the vote. Democrat Ron Bergstrom defeated his challenger and former colleague Ron Beaty by about 62 percent to 38 percent, retaining his seat on the Barnstable County Commission. The other two seats on that commission are also held by Democrats who were not up for re-election this year.
Democrat Sarah Peake, state representative for the 4th Barnstable district that includes the Outer Cape, was elected to her ninth term. She had no Republican challenger this year.
Democrats also won all five statewide races on the ballot this year — governor, attorney general, secretary of state, treasurer, and auditor — and Democrat Bill Keating won re-election to Congress.
Collectively, these results mean the four Outer Cape towns are now represented exclusively by Democrats at every level of government: county, state, and federal.
Ballot Question 2, which imposes new regulations on dental insurance plans, passed easily, both statewide and in all four Outer Cape towns.
Ballot Question 3, which would have altered the state’s limitations on chain liquor stores, did not pass. The measure won narrow majorities in Provincetown and Truro but lost by wider margins in Wellfleet and Eastham.
Ballot Question 4 was somewhat complicated, in that a “yes” vote would preserve the state’s new law allowing eligible undocumented immigrants to receive driver’s licenses next year, while a “no” vote would repeal the law. When this edition of the Independent went to press early Wednesday morning, “yes” had a narrow lead statewide with about 54 percent of the vote. All four Outer Cape towns voted “yes” on Question 4.
Ballot Question 1, which would impose a state income surtax of 4 percent on personal income over $1 million per year, looked like it might have the tightest final margin of all the statewide races this year. At press time, Question 1 had 52 percent of the statewide vote, with 20 percent of the vote still uncounted. Question 1 passed in all four Outer Cape towns, with larger margins in Provincetown and Wellfleet, narrower margins in Truro and Eastham.
