Here’s your cheat sheet on MA 2026 election

Fall is in the air, and so is Election Day. While many of Massachusetts’s federal offices are practically decided, there are still a number of important races and issues for Bay State residents to vote on.

Hundreds of candidates are running for seats up and down the ballot. Here are a few of the key storylines to know ahead of the election:

3. A multitude of ballot questions

4. Whether Democrats will hold onto majorities in the legislature

Here’s USA TODAY’s guide to your Nov. 3 ballot.

Healey faces a challenge

First-term incumbent Gov. Maura Healey, a Democrat, faces a challenge from Republican businessman Michael Minogue.

However, it will likely be an uphill battle for Minogue. The Massachusetts governor race is rated “Solid D” by the Cook Political Report, and two polls released before the primary showed Healey handily beating Minogue in a hypothetical matchup: 54% to 30% in a University of New Hampshire Survey Center poll, and 53% to 33% in a UMass Poll. The polls also show that Healey is fairly popular, with approval above 50%.

U.S. Senate and House mostly decided, but some still contested

All of Massachusetts federal incumbents up for re-election defeated their primary challengers in a loss for generational change candidates. Now, all the Democratic nominees are favored to win their general election against fairly unknown Republicans in the deep blue state. Some, including Rep. Richard Neal, Rep. Jim McGovern, Rep. Katherine Clark and Rep. Ayanna Pressley, don’t even face a general election opponent.

Massachusetts will see at least one new member of the federal delegation, however, as Rep. Seth Moulton did not seek re-election (he ran unsuccessfully for Senate instead). Democrat Dan Koh, a former White House official, won the primary to replace him.

Here are the contested races:

Senate: Democrat Sen. Ed Markey vs. Republican John Deaton

3rd Congressional District: Democrat Rep. Lori Trahan vs. Republican Gary Grossi

4th Congressional District: Democrat Rep. Jake Auchincloss vs. Republican Thomas Stalcup

6th Congressional District: Democrat Dan Koh vs. Republican Micah Quinney Jones

8th Congressional District: Democratic Rep. Stephen Lynch vs. Republican Robert Gerald Burke

9th Congressional District: Democrat Rep. Bill Keating vs. Republican R. Tyler MacAllister

Voters to see 9 ballot questions, from marijuana rollback to jungle primaries

Voters will see a whopping nine questions on their ballot this fall, a number that ties a record set in 1994. They span a gambit of topics: one seeks to roll back legal marijuana sales in the state, while another seeks to establish all-party primaries. Some have inspired legal fights, protests and floods of cash.

Here’s a short primer on each one.

Question 1: This proposal, backed by Massachusetts Auditor Diana DiZoglio, would make most records held by the governor’s office and Legislature subject to the state’s public records law.

Question 2: This proposal would allow employees of the Committee for Public Counsel Services to form a union.

Question 3: This proposal would make Massachusetts’ state elections, starting in 2028, so-called “jungle primaries” in which the top two vote-getters in the primary, regardless of party, would advance to the general elections.

Question 4: This question, proposed by Secretary of the Commonwealth Bill Galvin, would allow Massachusetts voters to register at the polls on Election Day – also known as same-day voter registration.

Question 5: Business groups are pushing this question that would make the state revenue surplus cap law account for money from the millionaire’s surtax.

Question 6: This proposed law would establish a “Nature for All Fund” that would receive 50% of state taxes from sporting goods, recreational vehicles and golf courses. The money would be used for natural resource conservation, such as protecting green spaces and bodies of water.

Question 7: Pushed as an initiative to make more affordable “starter homes,” this law would allow single-family homes to be built on lots as small as 5,000 square feet, provided they are set at least a little back from the road.

Question 8: This question would backtrack on Massachusetts’s recent trend of increasingly legalizing marijuana by instead repealing provisions in the current law that allow for the drug to be sold commercially in the state.

Question 9: This is a referendum question on the 2024 gun reform law known as Chapter 135 that strengthened Massachusetts gun regulations. A yes vote would uphold the law, while a no vote would repeal it.

Will Democrats hold onto majorities in the Legislature?

The Massachusetts Legislature is fully controlled by Democrats. The state House of Representatives has a Democratic supermajority of 131-25, with one vacancy and three unenrolled, and the state Senate has a Democratic supermajority of 35-5. Democrats have controlled both bodies since 1958.

Competition for these seats is meager this November and Republicans face national headwinds, suggesting it’s likely Democrats will retain a firm grip on power in the Bay State.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Ballot q’s, top races: Here’s your cheat sheet on MA 2026 election