Lou

Democrat Maura Healey sailed to victory in Massachusetts governor’s race on Tuesday, soundly defeating Republican Geoff Diehl to become the first woman and openly gay candidate to win the state’s top elected post.

Healey and her running mate Kim Driscoll, a Salem Democrat, had more than 64% of the vote against Republican challenger Diehl and his running mate, Leah Allen of Danvers.

“I’m here tonight because of the people of this state who talked to me about their lives and their dreams, what they want, and what they need,” Healey told supporters at the Fairmont Copley Plaza hotel Tuesday night. “To those who voted for me, and those who didn’t, I want you to know I’ll be a governor for everyone.”

Healey and Driscoll both thanked their family, friends and supporters and reminded them that the duo will break through Beacon Hill’s traditional glass-ceiling with the first, all-female gubernatorial administration.

“Hey Massachusetts, tonight we made history,” Driscoll told the crowd to a roar of applause. “Actually, we made herstory!”

The Associated Press called the race shortly after polls closed at 8 p.m. but Diehl’s campaign didn’t immediately accept the outcome of the election.

Healey and Driscoll will replace two-term Republican Gov. Charlie Baker and Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito, who weren’t seeking another term.

They will also shift control of the governor’s corner office back to Democrats for the first time in eight years.

In other statewide races, Democrat Andrea Campbell, a former Boston city councilor, defeated Republican Jay McMahon, a Bourne lawyer, in the race to replace Healey as the state’s attorney general. She will become the state’s first Black attorney general.

Incumbent Secretary of State William Galvin, a Democrat, deflected a challenge from Republican nominee Rayla Campbell and Green-Rainbow candidate Juan Sanchez to win a historic eighth term, making him one of the longest-serving secretaries of state in the nation.

In the state auditor’s race, state Sen. Diana DiZoglio, D-Methuen, appeared poised to edge out Republican Anthony Amore of Winchester and three independent candidates to replace Democrat Suzanne Bump, who isn’t seeking a fourth term.

And incumbent Treasurer Deb Goldberg easily fended off a challenge from Libertarian candidate Cristina Crawford to win another term as the state’s top financial watchdog.

Despite her loss, Crawford received more than the 3% of the vote needed to restore the Libertarian Party’s status as a major political party ahead of the 2024 presidential election.

State Rep Sally Kerans was elected as State Representative for 13th Essex District. Sally ran unopposed but Michael Bean of Danvers ran as a write in candidate.

Senator Joan Lovely was reelected as State senator for the 2nd Essex District. Senator Lovely was opposed by Damian Anketell. Senator Lovell received 67.6 % of the vote.

Democrat Andrea Campbell has been elected as Massachusetts Attorney General, NBC News projects, making her the first Black woman to serve as the state’s top law enforcement officer.

She defeated GOP candidate Jay McMahon, who was seeking to become the first Republican elected to the post since the 1960s.

During the campaign, Campbell promised a focus on equity while McMahon vowed to target crime and corruption.

Speaking to an audience of supporters at an election night party in Boston on Tuesday, Campbell called it a “history-making night” for Democrats.

[This is] the first time you have elected a woman of color and a Black woman to serve as attorney general in Massachusetts,” Campbell said. “We don’t just say representation matters, we are showing it, and that history and responsibility is not lost on me.”

Campbell declared herself the winner less than an hour before the AP announced its projection that she would defeat McMahon late Tuesday night. Her speech was briefly interrupted by a wave of cheers that rang out from the back of the room to the balconies.

“I will come to work every day with joy, hope, possibility, integrity, and accountability to you the people,” she said. “I look forward to getting to work for a more fair and just Commonwealth.”

DDTC members stand on Sat. Oct. 22 from 8:30 to 11:30 at Town Hall celebrating the first day of early voting with State Rep Sally Kerans and State Senator Joan Lovely.

The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol issued a subpoena to former President Donald Trump on Friday, compelling his testimony and relevant documents.

The committee took the major and unexpected step of voting to subpoena Trump during its hearing last week. The subpoena sets up a timeline for the president to provide relevant documents to the committee, by Nov. 4, and to testify before the committee, by Nov. 14.

Among the documents that Trump must provide are his calls and messages from Jan. 6, 2021, any contact with members of Congress related to the election between Dec. 18 and Jan. 6, 2021, photos and video recordings taken during the events of Jan. 6, communication referencing extremist groups like the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers and any communication between Nov. 3 and Jan. 20 with a list of individuals including Steve Bannon, Roger Stone and John Eastman, among other documents.

On Monday Oct. 10, the DDTC and other neighboring Democrat Committee members held a major visibility event on Route 1 North at the CVS/Stop and Shop Plaza supporting the all state and local Democratic candidates.  

There was a good turnout and a lot of positive feedback from route one drivers.

Everyone got there on time except one person who created the notice for the event on this website and showed up promptly at 12:00 PM as everyone was getting ready to go home.

Candidates for Massachusetts governor Geoff Diehl and Maura Healey participated in the first televised debate between between the current attorney general and former state representative.

There was a lot of back and forth during the debate, which was held by NBC10 Boston, NECN and Telemundo Boston, on issues that have been making a lot of headlines lately, including immigration and climate change.

One of those issues was abortion.

“I appreciated that the Supreme Court overturning of Roe v. Wade with the Dobbs decision because I always felt, like Ruth Bader Ginsberg felt, that abortion should be a states issue,” Diehl said, adding that his job as governor would be to protect women’s healthcare choices.

Healey, though, criticized Diehl’s position on the overturning.

“The Supreme Court overturned Roe. My opponent celebrated when the Supreme Court overturned Roe,” Healey said. “He wants to defund Planned Parenthood. He wants to jail doctors who provide abortion care. That’s a real difference in this race.”

Healey and Diehl also clashed when it came to education.

“My opponent’s education plan, I just want to be really clear with the voters: he wants to ban books,” Healey said. “He wants to require that anytime a child wants to go into a public library, they have to get a permission slip… That’s not the direction we need to go.”

Diehl argued back, saying he wanted to give more choice to parents. “No, this is not about removing books from libraries or banning anything,” Diehl responded. “This is about allowing parents to have a say for what is in the schools, whether it’s in the curriculum or what is in the school libraries.”

Speaking of school, when asked about giving a letter grade for Governor Baker, Diehl gave him a “B”. Healey wouldn’t give him a grade, only saying he did a really good job.

Former President Donald Trump’s name loomed large at the start of the debate.

“This is really clear in this election— my opponent is Donald Trump’s candidate for governor. I’d be honored to be yours,” Healey said.

Diehl called mentions of Trump simply a distraction to what’s important in the race. He seemed to distance himself a bit from Trump and stolen election claims, even admitting that President Biden won in 2020. “You’re going to hear about Donald Trump because it’s Halloween time and that’s her bogeyman, that’s what the media likes to talk about, it’s Donald Trump,” Diehl said.

Another big issue that was brought up was transportation in the Bay State.

“We don’t have a functioning economy in Massachusetts unless we have a functioning transportation system that works for all over the state,” Healey said. “We need to make it safe, we need to make it affordable and we need to make it reliable.”

Diehl wants to see less outside help when it comes to getting the MBTA up to speed. “What we need to do, I believe, is not bring in consultants who always try the MBTA what to do,” Diehl said. “I think we need to listen to the workers. The workers know exactly what needs to be fixed.”

In my view, it was an odd debate.

Healey has not been criticizing Baker apparently courting the Democrats that voted for Baker and the moderate Republicans. This gave it the feeing that she was the incumbent defending her record instead of attacking the previous administration.

Diehl spent the hour “putting lipstick on a pig”. He really wasn’t that pro life and would just enforce the states laws regarding abortion. He really wasn’t a true Trump MAGA disciple who won the nomination just because Trump liked him. He really wasn’t for removing books that didn’t jive with his ideology just parents rights to set the curriculum. He really isn’t the guy displayed at the GOP convention.