Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker easily won re-election Tuesday, defeating Democrat Jay Gonzalez to win a second term in office.

The Associated Press called the race for Mr. Baker almost immediately after polls closed in the state at 8 p.m.

Mr. Baker, a Republican, has been rated the most popular governor in the country according to some recent polling — with some surveys showing he has stronger approval numbers among Democrats than among members of his own party.

He has offered a path to success for blue-state Republicans by tacking toward the middle on social issues like abortion and avoiding nasty divisions over President Trump that have dominated the political conversation in other races.

Mr. Baker is pro-choice, and earlier this year signed legislation undoing pre-Roe v. Wade abortion restrictions as an insurance policy if the U.S. Supreme Court ever overturned the 1973 decision that enshrined a right to abortion.

He was also endorsed this year by Everytown for Gun Safety, the gun control group co-founded by former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

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