Election 2020: Auchincloss wins 4th District seat

In September, Jake Auchincloss waited days to learn his fate. Franklin, one of the 4th Congressional District towns, didn't have final results until almost a week after the election and there was little daylight between the former Newton councilor and his closest rival, Jesse Mermell of Brookline.

When the final tally was released, Auchincloss prevailed 32,361-33,216. Because there were multiple candidates, his total was 21.4 percent of the vote.

Tuesday night, Auchincloss knew his fate much earlier, decisively beating Republican Julie Hall. The Associated Press called the race just before 11 p.m. with Auchincloss holding a 144,868-75,711 lead with close to 60 percent of the votes counted.

"I'm going to be a member of Congress who brings people together north and south of this district," he said Tuesday night.

Auchincloss began he remarks reciting a drumbeat of progressive Democrat talking points, promising to fight climate change, protect reproductive rights and civil liberties.

"Together, we can try to force a renewal," he said.

Hall, a retired Air Force colonel and former Attleboro City Councilor, had a cleaner run to the GOP nomination, beating David Rosa 19,394-11,296 in September.

While Auchincloss talked as if he had won, Hall was not conceding a thing.

At a small election night party at The Pearl in Taunton, she said she wouldn’t be giving a concession speech on election night.

 “My official position is I’m not a quitter; I go to the very end,” Hall said at 10:30 p.m.

She added she was “pretty happy” with the percentage of votes she received.

 In an interview, she touched on campaign financing, asserting that “something’s got to change,” because “I don’t have hundreds of thousands of dollars [to campaign].”

The 4th Congressional District seat was vacated by Joseph Kennedy III, who left after four terms to mount an unsuccessful challenge to Democratic Senator Ed Markey.

Markey also won Tuesday. beating Kevin O'Connor by a wide margin.

Jackson Ripley contributed to this report. Ripley is a Boston University journalism student reporting as part of a collaboration with BU News Service.