SALEM — The joyous rock music had been turned down, and the crowd of family, friends and supporters that filled the Hawthorne Hotel's Grand Ballroom last night stood to listen as Congressman John Tierney delivered his victory speech.
The Democrat from Salem had just captured a seventh term in the U.S. House of Representatives.
"We have a serious responsibility facing us," Tierney said. "And while we're in a celebratory mood for having won this election, it doesn't excuse the fact that we have a lot of heavy lifting to do. It has been a rough eight years under the Bush administration."
Voters sent Tierney back to Washington by a wide margin over Republican Richard Baker Jr. of West Newbury. He was up 71 percent to 29 percent with more than half of the 6th District's precincts reporting.
The North Shore was solidly in Tierney's corner. He won by more than 10,000 votes in both Salem and Peabody. He won Beverly by nearly 9,000 votes, Danvers by 5,469.
Democrats, with majorities in the House and U.S. Senate, and a newly elected president in Barack Obama, will find "the way forward for this country," Tierney said.
It begins with an economic recovery package that helps states pay their health care costs, extends unemployment benefits, provides those without the ability to feed their family with food stamps and nutrition programs and funds road, bridge and school repairs that put people to work, according to Tierney.
Baker, 49, made a first bid for federal office after serving for two years on the Pentucket School Committee. The director of intellectual property licensing for 3Com Corp. decided to run after watching lawmakers debate a bill that he said would have weakened patent laws and undermined the ingenuity of American workers.
Baker touted his background in business and pledged to bring quality jobs to Massachusetts. His campaign, however, was not able to gain enough traction among local voters to pose a serious threat to Tierney.
"It was a very interesting process," Baker said last night. "It was an awful lot of very hard work and a hard effort from February until now."
It's never easy for a Republican in the 6th District. The electorate leans Democratic and voters' party loyalty was this year reenforced by a struggling economy, an appetite for change after eight years of President Bush and a popular nominee at the top of the ticket.
Tierney, 57, won his seat in 1996, defeating Peter Torkildsen of Danvers by 360 votes. Since then a challenger has not come closer than 13 percentage points. He won by 40 points in 2004 against Nahant lawyer Stephen O'Malley Jr. and again in 2006 over retired airline pilot Rick Barton.
"(Tierney) has done a lot of good for veterans," said Timothy Smith, a Gulf War veteran from Beverly. "Whenever we've needed him, we've gone to John and he has been a big help."
Tony Toledo of Beverly, another supporter who gathered in the downtown Salem hotel, said Tierney was "not scared of the tough economic times." With a nephew in Afghanistan, he also appreciated Tierney's work, making sure veterans are aware of what benefits are available to them.
"If you write to Congressman Tierney, he writes back," Toledo said. "He's thoughtful enough to keep you in the loop. To me, that counts for a lot."
Tierney is a product of Salem. He graduated from Salem High School and Salem State College. He worked for 20 years as a lawyer before turning to a career as a lawmaker.
He stood at the podium last night with his wife, Patrice, at his side.
"I want to thank every one of you for giving me the opportunity to serve during this interesting and fascinating time," he said. "But it's also going to be an optimistic time. For every challenge that we have, we have the vision and the leadership to pull us through and set this country on its rightful path and bring America back to where it belongs. That's what we're about to start on tomorrow."
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