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U.S. Rep. Bill Keating won a ninth term in Congress Tuesday, defeating Republican challenger R. Tyler Macallister in Massachusetts’ 9th Congressional District.
Keating, a Democrat first elected to Congress in 2010, held off the fisherman, business owner and former Mattapoisett Select Board member in a district that includes New Bedford, the Cape and Islands, and parts of the South Coast and South Shore.
At about 11 p.m., Keating said he was confident he had won. He was leading 62% to 38%, with about 35% of votes counted. The Associated Press projected him the winner at 10:27 p.m. He said he was pleased with both his own results and Demcrats’ performance nationally.
“I think everyone was stunned with the extent that the American public said, ‘We’re going to take our country back,’ and that’s what happened tonight,” Keating said. “I think they’re going to be looking decades from now at tonight as a moment of history in that regard.”
In New Bedford, Keating won 15,355 votes to Macallister’s 8,628.
Late Tuesday, as news of victories for his party came in from around the country, Keating said he knew Democrats were going to win, but winning U.S. Senate seats in Texas and South Carolina, in particular, “is almost unheard of,” he said.
As of late Tuesday night, the New York Times’ forecast gave the Democrats more than a 95% chance of winning the U.S. House.
“As we go back next week,” said Keating Tuesday night, “we’re going to have the American public’s voice so strongly heard, and that’s going to have an effect. That’s going to empower all of us.”
On Election Day, Keating said, he visited polling locations in Bourne, Marshfield, Pembroke and Bridgewater, accompanied by his dog Moby, a white Maltese.
After speaking with poll workers and voters, Keating said what stood out was the peaceful atmosphere and steady turnout, which he described “as being the same as it would be in a presidential year.”
“It’s just sort of like people are coming in to vote and they have a purpose, they’re on a mission.”
During the campaign, the candidates offered opposing views on how to interact with the Trump administration. Keating called for Congress to check President Donald Trump’s power, while Macallister argued that closer cooperation with the administration would bring more federal resources to the district.
Keating said that Democrats needed to regain control of the House to restrain the president and address affordability, adding that Republicans had yielded to Trump and the district did not need more of his influence.
At an October forum hosted by The Light and the League of Women Voters SouthCoast, Keating said his first priority would be to restore Congress’s authority over tariffs. He said little else would matter if the Constitution is not being upheld.
Macallister focused on lowering energy costs, saying that would bring down prices throughout the economy. He opposed further offshore wind construction and favored small modular nuclear reactors, while Keating supported offshore wind as a source of power and jobs.
Keating advanced to the general election after defeating New Bedford activist Craig Swallow in the September Democratic primary. Swallow, a former teacher and hospitality worker running for office for the first time, criticized Keating’s long tenure and called for a new generation of leadership. Keating said his experience would help him push back against Trump.
Keating won 58% of the primary vote in New Bedford, compared with Swallow’s 42%.
Keating’s political career began with his election to the Massachusetts House in 1976. He later served in the state Senate and as Norfolk County district attorney before winning a seat in Congress.
During the campaign, he pointed to his work connecting education with jobs and securing funding for improvements at New Bedford Regional Airport. He warned that federal funding cuts threatened energy-sector, union and healthcare jobs.
Keating and Macallister also differed over immigration enforcement, an issue Keating addressed at the October forum by referring to dozens of recent ICE arrests in New Bedford. He said that while the country needs an enforcement agency, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is acting criminally.
Keating had called for restructuring ICE in an August interview with The Light, saying the agency had lost its purpose and mission. Macallister defended agents’ work, though he acknowledged at the forum that some aspects of the agency needed review.
On Election Day, Macallister said he planned to watch the results at Cabby Shack in Plymouth. He did not respond to The Light’s request for comment.
Keating is confident the election results will resonate beyond the U.S.
“There will be countries now that will see this result in areas where democracy is being challenged, in Europe and across the globe,” Keating said. “They’re going to look at this election and a country that they doubted. They’re going to say democracy works and America has shown how it can work.”
Email Eleonora Bianchi at ebianchi@newbedfordlight.org.
