I have been told that Ward 16, Precinct 9 – the section of Dorchester between Minot, Adams, and Ashmont Streets – is the most conservative voting precinct in the city. On Election Day last week, the precinct favored Charlie Baker, 469-356, or 59 percent to 41 percent, as one of the two of Dorchester’s 69 precincts that voted for Baker over Coakley.
But these same residents also voted for Earned Sick Days/Question 4, 556-291, or 65.6 percent to 34.4 percent.

They are  “Reagan Democrats,” the term used some 35 years ago for those working class white Democrats who had begun a shift to voting Republican when Ronald Reagan was winning his way to the White House.

These Democrats felt more connected to Republicans on issues of abortion, crime prevention, military spending, cultural life style issues while their economic interests were allied with the Democrats who stood with the unions, the poor, and the average working person.
This majority vote in a Dorchester precinct for both Charlie Baker and Earned Sick Days illustrates that tension of interests and beliefs.

My organization co-chaired the Raise UP Massachusetts coalition that collected the signatures to qualify Question 4 for the ballot and then organized the voter education campaign to push for the win, which will enable almost a million people who had no sick days at their jobs to get five days year to take care of themselves, their children, or their ill relatives.

This is a family values issue. I knocked on the doors of voters in this precinct who vote less frequently to discuss this issue with them and encourage them to vote.  I distributed fliers to every household address in this precinct that named the Dorchester churches, hospital, health centers, community groups, and elected officials who were supporting Question 4.

Of course, there were other factors in this race. The perception that state government could be run better surely helped Baker, who was promoting his management skills. Meanwhile, Baker he received huge donations from wealthy donors that allowed him to outspend Coakley by a healthy margin. For her part, Coakley won but 43 percent of the votes against two significant Democratic primary gubernatorial rivals and then had just had seven weeks to campaign.

I stood outside the Kenny School polling place on Election Day morning giving out my Question 4 cards alongside a campaign worker for Charlie Baker and one for Sheriff Tompkins. At one point, the Baker campaign worker made his pitch to an elderly voter and she replied, “My father would turn over in his grave [if she voted for a Republican]. As she entered the building, the Baker man whispered to himself, “My dad too.”

There is a camaraderie that develops among poll workers for differing candidates. We have in common that we are volunteering; the weather is not always good; the hours are long; there’s time to talk about anything and everything; we get at the issues of the day; and we wonder together why people going by us to vote sometimes react to our pitches in ways that raise our eyebrows.

In the afternoon and evening, I headed north to help our affiliate in Lynn, a city with many immigrants, where I knocked on doors asking residents to come out and vote for Question 4. Later, I went by the Coakley gathering where after a long wait, people were told to go home knowing it was close but also knowing that Charlie Baker had won.

Last week was special for me personally since my kids have back to back birthdays, on November 5 and 6.  We took our daughter out to dinner on Thursday night for her birthday. As we got up to leave after the dinner, we saw Martha Coakley at the table behind us. We felt bad for her losing by so little after having been written off by so many and we tried to show our respect and appreciation for how hard she had worked.  But winning is a bottom line and I hope Charlie Baker will do some positive things for Dorchester.

In a few years, I’ll be back to talking to the people of Ward 16, Precinct 9 about some issue of justice they will be voting on.

Lew Finfer, a Dorchester resident, is the director of Massachusetts Communities Action Network.