On November 4, nationwide and in Massachusetts, democracy was put in action as elections were held and changes in our government were made. Here’s how those results are going to affect you.

Governor

Republican Charlie Baker defeated Democrat Martha Coakley to become the next governor of Massachusetts. He won with a 67.3 perent margin in Hanover and carried the rest of southeastern Mass. except for cities. No surprise there as Hanover and the South Shore are typically very conservative. I’m sure most of your parents are happy with his victory and he will enact policies that appease his core supporters while trying to appear moderate.

Secretary of State

Bill Galvin will remain in office after dominating his over-matched republican foe, he received 57.8 percent of the votes in Hanover but most places he won more than 60 percent of the vote. He has been in office for awhile so h’es nothing too new to this state and isn’t going to cause some big change.

Attorney General

Democrat Maura Healey won Martha Coakley’s spot as Attorney General of Massachusetts. Again, as a Democrat, she isn’t a candidate that is well-received by the South Shore and we’ll see how she does. Martha Coakley certainly had her fair share of botched cases. Healey will be somewhat similar to Coakley. She did not win Hanover, only geting 46.3 percent of the vote.

Auditor

Suzanne Bump won state auditor in a position that high schoolers will hear very little about. She did lose the to the republican candidate in Hanover, getting 43.6 percent of the vote. Honestly, this office is not as relevant an office compared to others. She’s the one who makes sure our government spends its money the right way.

Treasurer

Deb Goldberg won the treasurer position, taking over for Steve Grossman. She had a closer race than some of the others, and got beat badly in the South Shore. She only received 38.6 percent of the vote in Hanover. Recently, the treasurer position has been a jumping ground to other positions, as both Steve Grossman and Tim Cahill have made bids for governor from that position. We’ll see what her ambitions are and hope she does a good job. Since the treasurer oversees the state’s cash savings, debt and investments, it is an important position

U.S. Senate

In a quiet race, Ed Markey won the senate seat he took from John Kerry after Kerry was made secretary of state. Markey,  a liberal’s liberal, won Massachusetts with ease. He didn’t do as well in the South Shore, only gathering 44.6 percent of the vote in Hanover. He is a big Democrat and hardly represents the interest of the South Shore, but that’s nothing new in Massachusetts senate seats.

9th Congressional District

The 9th congressional district holds Hanover and a lot of the South Shore and Cape Cod. It is a region a Republican could and should win. But John Chapman didn’t run that hard of a campaign and Democrat Bill Keating won another term in office. Keating has done a decent job down in DC, and he still only got 47.2 percent of the vote in Hanover. It’s a republican-controlled house, so what he wants accomplished will not be easy for him.

Ballot Questions

Question 1 won with ease, meaning the gas tax cannot be indexed with inflation but rather must be set by real people. The Yes vote had 63.7 percent in Hanover.  Question 2, the bottle bill, was a massacre.  Hanover had a 83.4 percent No vote. The bottle tax will not be expanding and things will remain as they are right now.  I hope you like to gamble, because Question 3 was defeated by a decent margin. That means the casino act will not be repealed so casinos will be built in Springfield and Everett as well as a slot parlor in Plainville. In Hanover it was a 63.2 percent NO vote. For Question 4, earned sick time lost by a slim margin in Hanover, getting a 48.95 percent Yes vote. Statewide, it passed and will mandate changes in the way sick time is handled by companies, small and large.

Nationally

Tough time for the Democrats, as the Republicans kept control of the House of Representatives and won the Senate. Things are going to get prickly in Washington, and it is my personal opinion that the gridlock we’ve been seeing is going to continue as conservatives do their best to beat up Obama and Democrats filibuster their way to salvaging some of their accomplishments.

Locally

Hanover’s own Rhonda Nyman lost to Norwell native and Republican David DeCoste for the state representative seat. Since it was by a mere 45 votes and provisional ballots finally counted today, the margin may have gotten closer. She has until 5 o’clock on Nov. 13 to request a recount. In other races, Tom Kennedy retained his state senator spot and Marc Pacheco the other. Matt McDonough of Marshfield, a Democrat who had maybe the largest overall sign at HHS that Tuesday, won Plymouth Country Register of the Probate. Sandra Wright of Bridgewater, a Republican, won Plymouth Country Commissioner.