Massachusetts

Massachusetts is a state in the United States. It is bordered by Vermont and New Hampshire to the north, Connecticut and Rhode Island to the south, New York to the west, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. It has 12 electoral votes and is a safe democrat state.

State House


The Massachusetts State House is composed of 160 members, each directly elected from a state house district. Members serve terms of 2 years. Elections to all House seats occur during each even-numbered year.

The House is charged with the passage of state legislation, known as bills, which, after concurrence by the Senate, are sent to the governor for consideration. Any House member may draft bills, which will then be assigned to the relevant House committee at the beginning of the next week. The number of bills any individual member may draft is unlimited; however, each bill requires 25 hours to draft.

There is a committee system in the Massachusetts House. Committees hold specialized hearings on relevant bills. A House member must serve on at least 1 and at most 2 committees. If the member has a sufficient number of political points, they may choose to serve as the ranking member of their political party on at most 1 of their chosen committees.

Playable subcommittees include: Appropriations; Tax and Fiscal Policy; Education; Health Care; Transportation, Infrastructure, Housing and Community Development; Judiciary, Public Safety, and Corrections; Commerce, Labor, and Career Development; Energy, Environment, and Natural Resources; Human Services.

Non-playable subcommittees include: Agriculture; Elections and General Government; Veteran Affairs and Homeland Security; Ethics.

A committee chair is the ranking member of the House's majority party within that committee. Above all other members of the House, a committee chair has the right of first review over any draft bill that falls within the purview of the committee. The committee chair may grant or refuse a hearing. If the committee chair refuses to grant a hearing on a bill, that bill can no longer advance. This is true even if the bill already passed through the Senate.

Once a bill is granted a committee hearing, all ranking and regular members on the committee have the right to offer amendments and have those amendments voted on. A tie or majority vote leads to adoption of an amendment. After the amendment process is complete, a final committee vote is held. A tie or majority vote allows the bill to advance to the floor of the full House. The entire committee phase takes one week.

When a bill reaches the House floor, a hearing is held. Any member of the House may offer amendments, which are immediately voted on. When the amendment process is complete, a final floor vote is held. Upon passage by the House, a bill is sent either: (a) to the Senate, (b) to the governor, or (c) to conference report. The House floor phase takes one week.

If the House considers a Senate-approved bill but then passes an amended version, the bill must be sent for a conference report to adjust any discrepancies between the House and Senate versions. After that, both chambers must hold a floor vote on whether to approve the conference report.

Districts
In default mode (4/15/2020), the State House district configuration favors the Democratic Party, although not nearly as much as the state's overall partisan lean of 25% D. Out of 160 districts, 112 lean Democratic by more than 10%. Another 10 districts lean Democratic by 5-10%. Twenty-eight districts lean Republican by more than 10%, and 2 more lean by 5-10%. Under this configuration, a neutral election year leads to an average party breakdown of 122D-30R and 8 tossups. To win party control in the State Senate, the Republican Party must win at least 29 seats that lean Democratic by 15% or more.

State Senate
The Massachusetts State Senate is composed of 40 members, each directly elected from a state senate district. Members serve terms of 4 years. Elections to the Senate are not staggered. Elections to all seats occur in the same year as U.S. presidential elections.

The Senate is charged with the passage of state legislation, known as bills, which, after concurrence by the House, are sent to the governor for consideration. Any state senator may draft bills, which will then be assigned to the relevant Senate committee at the beginning of the next week. After a bill's hearing on the Senate floor, any senator may offer amendments, which are immediately voted on. When the amendment process is complete, a final floor vote is held.

If the Senate amends and passes a bill that began in the House, the bill will be sent for a conference report to adjust any discrepancies between the House and Senate versions. After that, both chambers must vote on whether to approve the conference report.

There is a committee system in the Massachusetts Senate. Committees hold specialized hearings on relevant bills.

A committee chair is the ranking member of the majority party within a committee. Above all other senators, a committee chair has the right of first review over any draft bill on an issue that falls within the purview of the committee. The committee chair may grant or refuse a hearing. If the committee chair refuses to grant a hearing on a bill, that bill can no longer advance. This is true even if the bill already passed through the House.

Districts
In default mode (4/15/2020), the State Senate district configuration highly favors the Democratic Party, although not as much as the state's overall partisan lean of 25% D. Twenty-seven out of 40 districts lean Democratic by more than 10%. Another 6 districts lean Democratic by exactly 10%. Five districts lean Republican by more than 10%. Under this configuration, a neutral election year leads to an average party breakdown of 33D-5R and 2 tossups. To win party control in the State Senate, the Republican Party would have to to win a seat that leans Democratic by 19% or more.

Governor
The governor of Massachusetts is directly elected to terms of 4 years. Elections to the governorship are held in even years opposite to U.S. presidential elections. The governor may sign into law or veto any state bill that has passed through both houses of the state legislature. The governor may also draft legislation and send it to the state legislature for consideration. Draft bills from the governor almost always begin in the House and have to withstand the regular committee process.

Counties
Below is a table of counties in Massachusetts, included with population, party registration and poverty rates.