Keller: The Republican shift in Massachusetts shows that voters are tired of “wokeness.”

The opinions expressed below are those of Jon Keller and not of WBZ-TV, CBS News or Paramount Global.

BOSTON — Massachusetts has long been known as a Democratic state, but the 2024 election showed a Republican shift.

Presidential election

Vice President Kamala Harris won The state's 11 electoral votes increased on Tuesday, but former President Donald Trump improved his vote total compared to 2020. Trump won 75 cities and towns in Massachusetts. Eleven of these communities voted for Democrat Joe Biden four years ago.

So what's behind the shift?

Saugus, one of those cities that went for Trump, is great Example a longstanding reality here in Massachusetts. We may be a reliably Democratic state in federal elections, but independents are the dominant voters, and many of them, as well as a significant number of Democrats, are to the right of our liberal elected officials.

“In this two-year cycle, we will have won two seats in the state Senate. We did this in a presidential election year that is often very difficult for the Republican Party,” MassGOP Chairwoman Amy Carnevale told WBZ-TV.

Trump voters in Massachusetts

It's no coincidence that Massachusetts voters have elected Republican governors in seven of the last 10 elections. Voters of all stripes have been feeling the pressure of inflation lately. And this year, controversial issues like the influx of migrants into Saugus public schools certainly swayed some local voters to vote for Trump, who has made immigration his top issue.

One thing is certain: Voters here and elsewhere are fed up with unnecessary so-called “wokeness,” policies that, while well-intentioned, often strike people as unfounded political correctness. Real or imagined and exaggerated, this sort of thing is catnip to politicians like Trump who brand themselves as the antidote to wokeness.