Massachusetts Democrat Governor-Elect Deval Patrick on Election Night

Democrats held victory parties for their candidates across the U.S. last night. In Massachusetts, 6,000 people gathered at Boston's Hynes Convention Center to celebrate the election of Deval L. Patrick, the second African American governor in U.S. history and the state's first Democrat in that office after sixteen years of Republicans.

Given the shortage of victory celebrations for Democrats in our lifetime, pouring rain or not, this was one Party's party we did not want to miss. Like a blue themed nightclub for the multicultural thousands, there were open bars for VIPs upstairs and cash bars for others downstairs. The standing room only crowd cheered old fashion, but throughly rousting speeches by Senators John Kerry and Ted Kennedy.

Patrick's team ran a positive, grassroots TOGETHER WE CAN campaign in a year of negative ads from the opposition. Help from appearances by national figures Bill Clinton and Barack Obama bolstered his state organization and campaign contributions. Through October 31, his campaign spent approximately $8.4 million. His Republican opponent spent $12.8 million as of the same date.

Patrick was reared by his mother on the southside of Chicago when abandoned by his father, a jazz musician who played jazz with Sun Ra Arkestra. The Governor-Elect remembered his mother at the close of his speech to supporters and press last night:

In an article in mid-January 2005, the Boston Globe first reported that I was considering getting into this race. I visited my ailing mother that evening to show her the headline. She smiled, kissed me and said her last good-bye – and she died a few hours later. We spread her ashes this morning, Election Day, as a way to mark this milestone in our family’s journey, and to honor her lasting presence in our lives.

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