This article was co-written by Naomi Corlette, Caleb Levine, Jeslyn Liu, Avery McCoy Ell, Aidan Scully, and Stephanie Wang.
After a contentious primary season that came to a definitive close just a few weeks ago, the handful of chosen candidates have advanced onto the final stage of competition, squaring off against their partisan adversaries.
For the Democrats, crowded primary fields resulted in a series of disappointments for state progressives, after all six endorsees of Progressive Mass lost to more moderate opponents. Maura Healey, long the heir apparent to the Democratic nomination, now joins Salem Mayor Kim Driscoll at the top of the ticket. Incumbent Secretary of the Commonwealth Bill Galvin emerged victorious to seek his eighth term in office, sharing the party slate with Andrea Campbell, Diana DiZoglio, and incumbent Massachusetts Treasurer Deborah Goldberg. Now, these candidates who had to defend their progressive records from the left are facing off against opponents to their right, a quick pivot which they have been afforded only two months to make.
For the Republicans, a much less contentious field of candidates has nonetheless resulted in a controversial slate. Geoff Diehl and Leah Cole Allen, the Republican nominees for governor and lieutenant governor, emerged victorious over a more moderate Doughty-Campanale ticket, but they lead an untested slate of Republican candidates. Rayla Campbell, James McMahon, and Anthony Amore enter the general election from uncontested primaries, and now face an uphill battle in defeating Democratic candidates in a heavily Democratic state.
Governor: Diehl and Allen vs. Healey and Driscoll
On Nov.r 8, 2022, Massachusetts voters will join many fellow Americans from across the country to vote on their next governor. Maura Healey, the Democratic candidate, will be running against Geoff Diehl, the Republican candidate. Healey, the sitting attorney general of Massachusetts, is well known for her progressive political stances and her notoriety in opposing the Trump administration during her time as attorney general. Healey is running alongside Kimberly Driscoll, the five-term mayor of Salem, Massachusetts, who is seeking the lieutenant governorship. Diehl, a conservative who has been endorsed by Trump, represented the 7th Plymouth district in the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 2011 to 2019. Diehl is running alongside former State Representative Leah Allen from Beacon Hill, Massachusetts.
Due to the heavily Democratic distribution of the Massachusetts electorate, the race is favored towards Healey. As of February 2021, Massachusetts had 1,494,980 registered Democrats compared to 459,663 registered Republicans. However, the Bay State has a history of electing prominent Republican governors like Mitt Romney and Governor Charlie Baker, albeit both positioned themselves as moderate candidates and staunch critics of Trump. Diehl’s endorsement by Trump, on the other hand, is a testament to his more conservative leanings. Current polling has consistently placed the Massachusetts gubernatorial race in favor of Healey, with a recent Emerson College/WHDH poll demonstrating a comfortable 18-point lead for Healey over Diehl. If current polling trends bear fruit, the election of Healey as the next governor of Massachusetts would mark the flipping of a governorship from Republican to Democratic, which could have widespread implications on state-wide policymaking.
Several political issues have proven to be instrumental for voters in the Massachusetts gubernatorial election. During a time in which inflation and economic issues are at the top of the totem pole of national voters’ concerns, Massachusetts voters are no different: A March 2022 Patch poll found the economy to be the top concern for voters in Massachusetts regardless of political affiliation, but especially among Republicans. Infrastructure issues were also prevalent among voters, especially due to the state’s heavy reliance on public transportation. These priorities are also a testament to the way the election may swing in November.
Both candidates have outlined plans to address voters’ concerns on issues like the economy, infrastructure, healthcare, and climate. Healey’s campaign platform outlines a plan to reform the existing child tax credit, tackle climate change by reinvigorating the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, invest federal climate funds into overburdened communities, and increase funding for clean buildings and clean transportation. Healey has also vowed to protect reproductive rights by shielding providers and patients from civil and criminal liability for performing and receiving reproductive or gender-affirming care, expanding abortion and birth control access, and mandating health insurers cover reproductive and gender affirming care.
Diehl has likewise committed to promoting environmentalism in his campaign platform, vocalizing his support for renewable energy investment and safeguarding environmentally-sensitive areas. The Republican has also focused a significant portion of his campaign commitments on parental choice in childrens’ education, outlining a “Parents’ Bill of Rights” that includes priorities like expanded school choice, eliminating state COVID vaccination requirements, and establishing curriculum oversight. In infrastructure and the economy, Diehl has advocated for a flat income tax, enacting Governor Baker’s tax cut proposals, and reforming aspects of the transportation zoning regulations.
Regardless of who wins the Massachusetts gubernatorial election, the outcome will be historic. Should Healey win, she would become the state’s (and the country’s) first openly lesbian governor, and the first woman to be elected to the corner office in Massachusetts. Should Diehl win, his conservative record and campaign platform would be an anomaly in the predominantly Democratic state.
Secretary of the Commonwealth: Campbell vs. Galvin
The Massachusetts secretary of the commonwealth shares executive power with the governor, attorney general, and auditor, and is among the highest-ranking members of state government. The office, also referred to as the secretary of state, carries a number of varied responsibilities, including the administration of Massachusetts voting procedures and the decennial census, direction of the corporations and securities divisions, and management of the state archives and historical commission. Though historically, the role has been regarded as largely administrative, it’s been increasingly politicized in recent years as disputes over voting rights and the census usher secretaries of state into the national spotlight.
William Galvin, a Democrat and the current officeholder, is the race’s presumed frontrunner as he vies for an unprecedented eighth term. He is the second longest-serving secretary of state in Massachusetts history — second only to Frederic Cook, the last Republican to ever hold the seat, who served from 1921 to 1949.
First elected in 1994, Galvin is a staple of Massachusetts state politics. His reputation for working late into the night and striking backroom deals earned him the nickname “The Prince of Darkness,” and he’s well-regarded as a middle-of-the-road Democrat. He’s worked for decades to establish himself as a staunch defender of voting access and small businesses, and this election season is no different. This time around, though, he hasn’t done much in the way of campaigning, opting instead to let his consistent track record do most of the talking.
During the pandemic, Galvin implemented a no-excuse mail-in ballot election system and advocated to make it permanent. The system significantly boosted voter turnout and is exceedingly popular among Bay Staters. It does have its dissenters, though. Notably, Rayla Campbell, Galvin’s Republican opponent in the upcoming general election, vows to do away with the system and enact a mandatory voter-ID policy if she’s elected in November.
For Campbell, this race is somewhat personal. In 2020, she ran against Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley, but Secretary of State Galvin denied her a spot on the ballot, claiming that she had failed to collect sufficient signatures. Campbell sued and lost in the Massachusetts Supreme Court, but she ran as a write-in candidate nonetheless, ultimately losing by a substantial margin. Campbell believes she was mistreated by Galvin’s office in 2020 and is running, at least in part, to bring change to the systems that she feels let her down.
Campbell, the first Black woman to make the statewide Massachusetts ballot, has garnered attention for a series of controversial remarks. At the state Republican Party convention in May, she profanely claimed that fifth graders in Massachusetts schools were being encouraged to perform sex acts on one another — a statement since debunked that spurred a flurry of condemnations from members of her own party.
Campbell calls Galvin a “misanthrope” on her website, and has, on numerous occasions, questioned the legitimacy of the 2020 presidential election. On her radio show in November of 2020, she falsely proclaimed, “there’s no way, with all of the Trump rallies and the support that we had out there, that our candidates didn’t get more votes.” On the level of policy, she hopes to do away with voting machines, relying instead on hand-counted paper ballots; and if elected, she would aim to eliminate “the bureaucracy and onerous regulations” that she believes stifle business development in Massachusetts.
In addition to Galvin and Campbell, Green-Rainbow party candidate Juan Sanchez will also be on the ballot in November. According to his campaign website, Sanchez’s vision for Massachusetts involves “progressive electoral and campaign finance reform,” and a voter education campaign geared toward non-English speakers.
Attorney General: Campbell vs. McMahon
Termed “the people’s lawyer,” the Attorney General of Massachusetts has historically had relatively free reign to pursue the issues they regard as most important. From suing former President Trump nearly 100 times, to securing $550,000 from fraudulent home health care companies, to personally investigating reports of violent, racist, homophobic, and antisemitic behaviors in the Danvers school district, former Attorney General and current candidate for state Governor Maura Healey provided a perfect example for what one could make out of such a broad range of tasks.
Currently in the race, Democrat Andrea Campbell is running against Republican James McMahon for the state title. While both ended up at the same point in the race, the roads the two final candidates took differ as much as their beliefs, history, and political goals.
Becoming the first African American woman to serve as city council president after being elected two years prior upon unseating a 32-year incumbent, Andrea Campbell has fervently addressed the issues she experienced first-hand growing up in Boston. From pushing for a more equitable and diverse public school system, to advocating for a scale-back of the police force and more funds to be redirected towards community-based organizations, to prioritizing environmental justice, Campbell is known for her efficient and progressive actions.
Her priorities, if granted the Attorney General position, would include protecting civil and reproductive rights, advancing prison and criminal legal reform, and expanding the reach of her office to better serve everyone in Massachusetts. Receiving endorsements from major labor unions, five former attorney generals including Maura Healey, and other progressive political figures including Representative Ayanna Pressley and Senator Ed Markey, Campbell would become the first African American woman Attorney General in Massachusetts should she win. Coming out on top in the Democratic primary, Campbell defeated her opponents after gaining 48.3% of the votes. This was not always the case, however, as Campbell spent much of the race a number of points behind labor lawyer Shannon Liss-Riordan before finally being able to pull away, in part due to the unofficial withdrawal of fellow candidate Quentin Palfrey from the race.
Republican candidate John McMahon has a variety of experience, ranging from military police lieutenant to trial attorney. Similar to Campbell, much of McMahon’s political career is also driven by his personal experiences. Having lost his son to a drug overdose in 2018, McMahon is a huge proponent of “extreme prosecution” for drug crimes, which he believes would involve harsher punishments to deter “drug-trafficking thugs,” and abolishing “sanctuary state” policies.
His other motivation for running for attorney general — first against Maura Healey in 2018 and now against Andrea Campbell — is his critique of the “wokeness” in state political leaders. McMahon was an outspoken critic of the city’s COVID vaccine mandate and voiced support for groups questioning the teaching of critical race theory in public schools. The veteran has also pledged to curb the commonwealth’s opioid epidemic, vowed to support police and fire unions grappling with the repercussions of vaccine requirements, and committed to helping local police officers in an effort to avoid letting “anarchy reign in our streets.” McMahon has run uncontested within his own party thus far and looks to accomplish a feat that hasn’t occurred since 1969: reserve the attorney general office for a Republican.
With the abundance of unforeseen events this year as well as pessimism for what is to come, this November’s state election poses a critical question all voters must answer: Are we looking to fill impressive legacies or move away from what has been done altogether? The answer to this question will be closely reflected in the results from the midterm elections.
Auditor: Amore vs. DiZoglio
Known as the “chief accountability officer” for the state’s government, the office of auditor is responsible for investigating and analyzing the spending of state agencies, as well as monitoring and offering recommendations on the state budget. While generally much lesser-known than other offices on the ballot this fall, the role of auditor ensures that taxpayer dollars are spent purposefully and in the service of Massachusetts citizens. Since taking office in 2011, current Auditor Suzanne Bump identified approximately $1.4 billion in improper spending or potential saving opportunities for the state, and contributed to about $362.9 million in funding decisions for local communities.
The office of auditor exists in 48 states across the country, and has been established in Massachusetts since 1849. The upcoming election will select the state’s 24th auditor, following Bump’s — the first woman to ever hold the position —departure from the office.
Two candidates are in the running this November: Diana DiZoglio and Anthony Amore. Dizoglio is the Democratic candidate, and has previously held positions in the state House of Representatives as well as her current position in the Senate, where she was elected in 2018. DiZoglio’s platform focuses on more thorough auditing of climate change spending, as well as affordable housing and the Department of Early Education and Care. No stranger to running for elected office, DiZoglio has received several endorsements in her campaign for auditor, including several Massachusetts senators and labor parties such as the Massachusetts Nurses Association, the Massachusetts Teachers Association, and the Amalgamated Transit Union.
Opposing DiZoglio in the race for auditor is Republican Anthony Amore. Amore is an author and Museum Security Director with experience serving both as a federal agent and Senior Homeland Security Official. Despite his lack of experience in elected office, Amore has obtained several endorsements from prominent Massachusetts politicians, including former Lieutenant Governor Jane Swift and current Governor Charlie Baker. In fact, the Republican candidate is the only state-wide candidate to obtain the current Governor’s endorsement, yet he continues his race without the support of the Massachusetts Republican Party. Many attribute this to Amore’s moderate nature amidst a Republican Party moving farther and farther right, both statewide and nationally.
Notably, Amore is the only statewide Republican candidate this election cycle who called for Trump’s impeachment following the Capitol insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021. Amore runs on a moderate platform, advocating for increased auditing of public university costs as well as nursing homes, unemployment insurance, and the Cannabis Control Commission. Some argue, however, that his near-independent political stance may cost him more than it benefits his electability, particularly due to the extreme polarization in today’s political environment.
As Election Day approaches, DiZoglio appears to be ahead of Amore quite significantly by 18 points. However, it is important to note that Amore trails his opponent closer than any other Republican candidate running for state office this November. With the Massachusetts gubernatorial election also occurring this cycle, the election of the office of auditor is more important than ever, as it has the potential to shape state policy and the efficacy of the incoming Governor throughout their term. While Amore argues that a party divide between auditor and Governor only serves to increase accountability in the state government, others point out that a potential divide could limit possibilities for greater efficiency and accomplishment within state policy. Ultimately, this question is posed to the citizens of the state.
When Massachusetts voters head to the polls on Nov. 8, they will have the chance to determine their next “chief accountability officer” with the election of auditor — an office so often overlooked, but so incredibly important to the public trust in the state government.
Conclusion
The Democrats have only fully secured one of the state’s six executive offices; Deborah Goldberg, the current state treasurer, faces no Republican opponent on Election Day. Yet for the five remaining offices, the races may come down more to a question of turnout than of direct popular support. In a midterm election year, especially one with neither one of the state’s two Senate seats on the ballot, candidates up and down the ballot will face an uphill battle in overcoming significant levels of voter apathy to actually draw out their supporters and the as-yet-undecideds.
In such a politically tumultuous year, where wedge issues like abortion have been catapulted to the forefront of political discussions, the outcomes of many elections are constantly flowing in and out of doubt. Yet especially in Massachusetts, where Republican governor Charlie Baker enjoys higher support among Democrats than his own party, it’s not over until it’s over.
The Massachusetts state general elections will take place on Nov. 8, 2022.
Image by Allaura Osborne created for use by the Harvard Political Review.
