1976Flipped from DemocraticFinal resultsIncumbent defeated
1976 election for Massachusetts Senate District D13
Massachusetts State Senate · Massachusetts
David H. Locke (R) won with 27.9% of the vote, defeating Jack H. Backman (D) by 4.7 points, a seat Democrats won last time.
David H. LockeRepublican · winner · incumbent
27.9%50,233
Jack H. BackmanDemocrat · incumbent
23.2%41,832
Edward L. BurkeDemocrat · incumbent
21.0%37,878
William B. WebbRepublican
13.6%24,530
Aaron D. SpencerRepublican
13.1%23,601
David E. LongLibertarian
1.2%2,085
180,199 votes
Source: Harvard Dataverse / Carl KlarnerUpdated Sep 30, 2026, 7:29 AM ET
The seat over time
D − R margin in this seat's races around 1976
Races before and after
Source: Harvard Dataverse / Carl KlarnerUpdated Sep 30, 2026, 7:29 AM ET
The candidates
David H. Locke (R)Jack H. Backman (D)Edward L. Burke (D)William B. Webb (R)Aaron D. Spencer (R)
Also on the ballot: David E. Long (Libertarian), 1.2%