Shifting sands
BARNSTABLE COUNTY 2008
Registered Voters: 164,337
Democrats: 43,675 / 26.58%
Republicans: 29,396 / 17.89%
Unenrolled: 90,229 / 54.90%
Green Rainbow: 253 / 0.15%
Working Families: 70 / 0.04%
BARNSTABLE COUNTY 2006
Registered Voters: 164,268
Democrats: 43,458 / 26.46%
Republicans: 30,581 / 18.62%
Unenrolled: 89,113 / 54.25%
Green Rainbow and Working Families were not included in the 2006 party affiliation count.
At a recent gathering of Democrats, state Rep. Jeffrey Davis Perry of Sandwich was referred to as the "last Republican standing" in the Cape's legislative delegation.
Although not 100 percent accurate - state Rep. Susan Williams Gifford, R-Wareham, represents some districts of Bourne - it is in many ways an apt description.
Perry, who is running for re-election against Democrat and art gallery owner Glenn Pare, is a member of a political minority on the Cape and on Beacon Hill.
"There may be fewer of us, but that could change over time. Politics is ebb and flow," Perry said.
GOP dominance lost
Once the dominant political party in Massachusetts, Republicans routinely won state and federal offices from its inception in the mid-19th century until the 1930s, when Democrats began to dominate. Some point to John F. Kennedy's victory over Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. for a U.S. Senate seat in 1952 as the real end of Republican domination of Massachusetts politics.
By the early 1960s, there were still small pockets of predominantly Republican areas, including the Cape and Islands, Bristol, Berkshire, and Franklin counties.
Since then, the number of registered Republicans has declined. In Barnstable County, the Republicans lost 1,185 registered party members between 2004 and 2008. The Democrats gained 217 registered voters in that same period.
So, is the death knoll sounding for the Republican Party on Cape Cod?
