Patrick sparks a Democratic resurgence in cities across state

In his landslide victory, Deval L. Patrick did what no other Democratic candidate for governor has been able to do in the past 16 years: reestablish the party's dominance in the old blue-collar cities where Republicans have been peeling away voters to win statewide.

Four years ago, Republican Mitt Romney won 17 of the state's small and medium-sized cities and held down Democrat Shannon O'Brien's margins in the others. In his 56 percent to 35 percent blowout Tuesday, Patrick reclaimed all but one, Methuen, where Lieutenant Governor Kerry Healey beat him by 34 votes out of more than 14,000 cast, according to unofficial results.

In his history-making run to becoming the state's first African-American governor, Patrick also captured Cape Cod, Worcester County, and the Merrimack Valley, all of which have been solidly Republican in recent governor's races. He swept the state's 28 most populous communities, as well as every city and town in the Western Massachusetts counties of Berkshire, Hampshire, and Franklin. And he ran up enormous margins in the state's liberal strongholds (8 to 1 in Amherst, 7 to 1 in Cambridge, 5 to 1 in Northampton, 4 to 1 in Somerville), and coasted to victory in nearly all of the affluent bedroom communities surrounding Boston.

"It was such a broad-based thing, across the board, that it defies any geographic or demographic breakdown that I can figure out yet," John Walsh, Patrick's campaign manager, said yesterday.

Patrick's appeal for civic reengagement was a factor, he said. "I think people are yearning for something different.

"They don't know what it is, but it turns out that, at least at this point, it's something hopeful," Walsh said. "They're tired of assuming the best they can do is protect themselves from government."

A Globe analysis of Patrick's 450,000-vote victory margin Tuesday indicates his candidacy transcended not only race, but also many of the issues that Healey tried to use against him. She hit him for supporting Cape Wind, the offshore energy project, but he beat her on Cape Cod by almost 3,000 votes. Four years ago, Romney and Healey carried Barnstable County by more than 18,000 votes.

Healey hammered Patrick's support of rights for illegal immigrants, and he thrashed her in immigrant gateway communities such as Brockton, Fall River, Lowell, Lynn, Milford, New Bedford, and Springfield.

Helped by high turnout in mostly minority precincts of Boston, Patrick ran up an 80,000-vote margin in the Hub, winning even in conservative white neighborhoods such as South Boston and West Roxbury. Four years ago, O'Brien beat Romney in Boston by fewer than 45,000 votes.

"Immigrant bashing didn't work in any part of the state yesterday," said Ali Noorani, executive director of the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition. "Immigrants voted in record numbers."

As an example, he cited Everett, where immigration has been a hot-button local issue. Patrick beat Healey by almost 2,000 votes out of nearly 10,000 cast. In 2002, O'Brien carried the city by about 640 votes.

"People on the ground said Haitian and Brazilian voters were coming out in Everett in numbers they had never seen before," Noorani said.

But the most striking turnaround for Democrats may have been in cities that have been trending Republican in governor's races, including Chicopee, Haverhill, Waltham, and Woburn.

One exception was Quincy, which Romney and Healey won by a single vote four years ago and this year was one of the few where independent Christy Mihos was a significant factor. Patrick won Quincy, but with a plurality of only 14,914 votes, ahead of Healey's 10,684 and Mihos 's 9,479, according to the unofficial tally.

In Brockton, which O'Brien won by 550 votes out of more than 20,000 cast in 2002, Patrick beat Healey by more than 2 to 1, with Mihos getting about 15 percent in the city where he grew up.

Increased minority turnout contributed to that, said Avi Green, executive director of MassVOTE.

In Boston, where overall turnout was roughly the same as four years ago, it was up 17 percent in the 30 precincts with the highest percentage of African-Americans of voting age and the two Chinatown precincts, Green said.

Patrick's running mate, Mayor Timothy P. Murray of Worcester, was clearly a regional asset. For the first time since 1986, a Democratic candidate won Worcester County, trouncing Healey in Worcester by 3 to 1 and winning reliably GOP suburbs such as Holden, Paxton, and Shrewsbury.

Healey lost her home city of Beverly. Patrick beat her there, 7,916 to 6,029.

Brian C. Mooney can be reached at bmooney@globe.com.