U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, a target of Republicans after helping craft the $700 Wall Street bailout plan, cruised to a re-election victory with 70 percent of the vote to keep the seat he’s held since 1981.

The Newton Democrat bested Earl Sholley, a Republican who has now run and lost all five political races he has contested. He also easily outpaced Susan Allen, a 52-year-old independent from Brookline who likewise has never held political office.

“I was pleased,” Frank said Tuesday night. “It’s nice to get a chance to have people believe in you.”

Frank had faced intense criticism from Republicans and others for his role as chairman of the House Financial Services Committee. Sholley had called him, in a Patriot Ledger editorial board, “one of the chief sponsors of big government in this country” and a “key architect of the housing crash and the ensuing financial meltdown.”

But neither Sholley nor Allen ever posed a serious challenge to Frank. Even the state Republican party distanced itself from Sholley, who has spent time in jail for a domestic dispute with his daughter and an incident involving his activism for parental rights.

Frank said he believes his role in the Wall Street rescue plan helped put him in a prominent position, and helped earn voters’ trust.

“Everyone has his or her own house, a job,” he said. “They saw my role and thought, ‘Look, he’s in charge.’”

The 4th Congressional District is made up of parts of Bristol, Middlesex, Norfolk and Plymouth counties, including the towns of Sharon and Halifax.