1994 Massachusetts gubernatorial election

The 1994 Massachusetts gubernatorial election was held on November 8, 1994. Incumbent Republican governor Bill Weld won reelection as Governor of Massachusetts by the largest margin in state history, winning every single county and all but 6 of the state's 351 municipalities. As of 2024, this is the most recent election in which Boston, Somerville, Lawrence, Chelsea, Brookline, Northampton, Provincetown, Monterey, Great Barrington, Ashfield, Williamstown, Williamsburg, Shelburne, Sunderland, and Pelham voted for the Republican candidate for governor.

1994 Massachusetts gubernatorial election

← 1990 November 8, 1994 1998 →
Turnout	70.05% 5.8 [1]
Nominee Bill Weld Mark Roosevelt Party Republican Democratic Running mate Paul Cellucci Bob Massie Popular vote 1,533,390 611,650 Percentage 70.9% 28.3%
County results Municipality results Weld:      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90% Roosevelt:      50–60%
Governor before election Bill Weld Republican Elected Governor Bill Weld Republican

Republican primary

Governor

Candidates

• Bill Weld, incumbent governor

Lieutenant governor

Candidates

• Paul Cellucci, incumbent lieutenant governor

Incumbent governor Bill Weld and Lieutenant Governor Paul Cellucci were unopposed for renomination.

Democratic primary

Governor

Candidates

• George A. Bachrach, former state senator from Watertown
• Michael J. Barrett, state senator from Cambridge
• Mark Roosevelt, state representative from the Back Bay and member of the Roosevelt family

In 1987, Barrett succeeded Bachrach as the senator from the Middlesex and Suffolk District. The district was composed of Cambridge, Belmont, Watertown, and the Allston-Brighton neighborhood of Boston.

Declined

• Joseph P. Kennedy II, U.S. representative (1987–1999)

In 1993 a Boston Globe poll showed Kennedy within one percentage point of popular incumbent William Weld in a hypothetical gubernatorial match-up, prompting prominent state Democrats to try and recruit him for the race.^[2] Though no other Democrat was polling near Weld, Kennedy decided to forgo the race and remain in Congress.

Results

Primary results by municipality

Massachusetts Democratic Gubernatorial Primary, 1994

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Mark Roosevelt	215,061	47.91%
	Democratic	George Bachrach	120,567	26.86%
	Democratic	Michael J. Barrett	111,199	24.77%
Total votes			446,827	100.00%

Lieutenant governor

Candidates

• Bob Massie, activist
• Marc Draisen, state representative from Roslindale

Results

Massachusetts Democratic Lt. Gubernatorial Primary, 1994

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Bob Massie	193,508	52.66%
	Democratic	Marc Draisen	173,896	47.34%
Total votes			367,404	100.00%

General election

The Democratic ticket of Roosevelt (right) and Massie (left) campaign in Danvers

Debates

1994 Massachusetts gubernatorial election debates

No.	Date	Host	Moderator	Link	Republican	Democratic
Key:  P  Participant   A  Absent   N  Not invited   I  Invited  W  Withdrawn
					Bill Weld	Mark Roosevelt
1	Oct. 18. 1994	Boston Herald WCVB-TV	Natalie Jacobson	C-SPAN	P	P
2	Oct. 26. 1994	The Boston Globe WBZ-TV	Liz Walker Jack Williams	C-SPAN	P	P

Polling

Source	Date	Weld (R)	Roosevelt (D)
Boston Herald	Oct. 2, 1994	60%	29%

Results

Governor Weld defeated Democrat Mark Roosevelt by a 71%–28% margin, the largest gubernatorial margin of victory in modern Massachusetts history. Roosevelt won only six municipalities statewide (Amherst, Cambridge, Leverett, Otis, Shutesbury and Wendell). All six municipalities voted for Weld in 1990, meaning that he won every municipality in the state in a gubernatorial election.

1994 Massachusetts gubernatorial election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	Bill Weld (incumbent)	1,533,390	70.87%	+20.66
	Democratic	Mark Roosevelt	611,650	28.27%	−18.68
	Libertarian	Dean Cook	14,698	0.68%	N/A
	LaRouche Was Right	Jeffrey W. Rebello	3,907	0.18%	N/A
Total votes			2,163,645	100.00%

Results by county

1994 United States gubernatorial election in Massachusetts (by county) [3]
County	Weld - R %	Weld - R #	Roosevelt - D %	Roosevelt - D #	Others %	Others #	Total #
Barnstable	73.2%	68,719	24.0%	22,576	2.8%	2,604	93,899
Berkshire	60.9%	30,430	35.3%	17,618	3.8%	1,919	49,967
Bristol	63.8%	105,751	31.2%	51,702	5.1%	8,413	165,866
Dukes	62.4%	3,748	33.4%	2,007	4.2%	255	6,010
Essex	72.4%	189,618	24.1%	63,019	3.5%	9,237	261,874
Franklin	66.6%	18,226	30.0%	8,217	3.4%	927	27,370
Hampden	72.4%	109,631	23.0%	34,860	4.5%	6,840	151,331
Hampshire	62.1%	33,965	33.8%	18,449	4.1%	2,239	54,653
Middlesex	67.8%	376,503	28.7%	159,190	3.6%	19,875	555,568
Nantucket	71.2%	2,131	26.5%	794	2.3%	70	2,995
Norfolk	69.4%	187,155	26.9%	72,479	3.8%	10,201	269,835
Plymouth	73.5%	123,320	23.1%	38,747	3.4%	5,744	167,811
Suffolk	57.0%	99,615	36.5%	63,716	6.5%	11,352	174,683
Worcester	73.7%	184,578	23.3%	58,306	3.0%	7,490	250,374

See also

• 1993–1994 Massachusetts legislature, for the legislature at the time of this election
• 1995–1996 Massachusetts legislature, for the legislature elected concurrently
• 1994 Massachusetts elections, for other elections held concurrently