Republicans in solidly blue-state Massachusetts have been surging in major statewide campaigns in recent years
— including the current gubernatorial contest between the GOP's Charlie Baker and veteran Democrat Martha Coakley.
The Washington Post reports across the last four statewide races, the GOP has taken nearly 48 percent of the two-party vote.
In the gubernatorial race on the line Nov. 4, Baker is leading Coakley by 9 points as the contest heads for the finish line, a new
Boston Globe poll shows.
Anymore, that's not so unusual in Massachusetts, the Post notes.
The biggest win for the Democrats came with Rep. Ed Markey's 10-point victory in the 2013 special election for John Kerry's old Senate seat
— and that "was a little closer than Democrats would have liked," the Post reports.
Coakley previously lost the 2010 Massachusetts special election that sent Scott Brown to the Senate; Baker was edged out by just 6 points in his challenge to Democratic Gov. Deval Patrick, also in 2010; and Brown lost to Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren by 8 points in 2012.
The surge was underscored last month, when a New York Times/CBS News poll showed a plurality of voters would pick a Republican in the
midterm elections.