1978Flipped from DemocraticFinal resultsIncumbent defeated
1978 election for Massachusetts House District 21
Massachusetts House of Representatives · Massachusetts
David Robert Nelson (Ind) won with 47.2% of the vote, defeating Edward P. Coury (D) by 1.7 points, a seat Democrats won last time.
David Robert NelsonIndependent · winner
47.2%4,738
Edward P. CouryDemocrat · incumbent
45.5%4,569
Gregory WilliamsIndependent
7.1%717
10,045 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 1978
Races before and after
Source: Harvard Dataverse / Carl KlarnerUpdated Sep 30, 2026, 7:29 AM ET