The Federalist Party, represented nationally by John Adams, dominated Massachusetts in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The state turned to the Whig Party in the second quarter of the 19th century. Predominantly Yankee in character, the Whigs supported business growth, promoted protective tariffs, and favored such enterprises as railroads and factories. The new Republican Party, to which most Massachusetts Whigs gravitated when their party split in the 1850s, was a prime mover of abolitionism and played an important role in the election of Abraham Lincoln as president in 1860. Republicans held most of the major state elective offices, as well as most US congressional seats, until the early 1900s.
The Democratic Party's rise starting in the 1870s was tied directly to massive Irish immigration. Other immigrant groups also gravitated toward the Democrats, and in 1876, the state's first Democratic congressman was elected. In 1928, the state voted for Democratic presidential candidate Alfred E. Smith, a Roman Catholic, the first time the Democrats won a majority in a Massachusetts presidential election. Democrats have subsequently, for the most part, dominated state politics. In 1960, John F. Kennedy, who had been a popular US senator from Massachusetts, became the first Roman Catholic president in US history. Since then the state has voted for all Democratic presidential candidates except Republican Ronald Reagan in 1980 and 1984; in 1972, it was the only state carried by Democrat George McGovern. Massachusetts chose its native son, Democratic Governor Michael Dukakis, for president in 1988 and voted again for a Democrat in the next three elections, giving Al Gore 60% of the vote, Republican George W. Bush 33%, and Green Party candidate Ralph Nader 6%. In 2002 there were 3,972,651 registered voters. In 1998, 37% of registered voters were Democratic, 13% Republican, and 50% unaffiliated or members of other parties. The state had 12 electoral votes in the 2000 presidential election.
From 1990 to 1997, the governorship was held by a Republican, William Weld. Weld resigned in 1997 to pursue an appointment as ambassador to Mexico, at which time he was succeeded by lieutenant governor and fellow Republican Argeo Paul Cellucci. Cellucci was elected in his own right in November 1998. In 2002, Republican Mitt Romney was elected governor. Following the 2002 election, the US Senate seats for Massachusetts were held by Democrats Edward Kennedy (last elected in 2000) and John Kerry (last elected in 2002). In 2003, Kerry had launched a campaign for the presidency. The 10-member US House delegation following the 2002 elections again consisted entirely of Democrats. In mid-2003 the Massachusetts state senate had 34 Democrats and six Republicans while the state house of representatives had 136 Democrats, 23 Republicans, and one Independent.