Vineyard voters followed the rest of the state in electing Cong. Edward J. Markey to the U.S. Senate in a special election Tuesday.

Mr. Markey, a Democrat from Malden who has spent 37 years in the House of Representatives, was elected to the senate with 55 per cent of the vote, the Boston Globe reported. His opponent was Gabriel E. Gomez of Cohasset, a businessman and former Navy SEAL.

Voter turnout on the Island averaged 32.5 per cent, higher than the statewide average of 27 per cent.

Of the nearly 4,300 Vineyarders who came out to vote Tuesday, 69 per cent opted for Mr. Markey.

Chilmark had the highest voter turnout with 36 per cent of voters casting ballots at the Chilmark Community Center. Mr. Markey got 76 per cent of the vote in that town.

In Oak Bluffs, Mr. Markey got 64 per cent of the vote to Mr. Gomez’s 35 per cent. Third party candidate Richard A. Heos, with the Twelve Visions Party, got five votes in Oak Bluffs, nearly half of the 12 total votes he received on the Vineyard.

Mr. Markey won most decisively in Aquinnah, with 83 per cent of the 126 ballots cast. He received 60 per cent of votes in Edgartown, which had a voter turnout of almost 29 per cent.

About 77 per cent of West Tisbury voters favored Mr. Markey, with voter turnout at about 34.5 per cent. In Vineyard Haven, which had voter turnout of 30 per cent, Mr. Markey won with 70 per cent of the vote.

Mr. Markey will serve the remaining year and a half of former Senator John Kerry’s term. Mr. Kerry stepped down in January to be secretary of state.