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Politico
05-08-2025
- Business
- Politico
Healey's Cali cash dash
FOLLOW THE MONEY — Gov. Maura Healey has been steadily padding her campaign coffers ahead of next year's election. With two well-funded Republicans already gearing up to challenge her (and potentially more on the way), Healey's heading to California next week to cash in on the deep-pocketed donors in San Francisco's suburbs, according to invitations to the events. Healey has events in Mill Valley, Palo Alto and San Francisco's 'NoPa' neighborhood set for next Thursday and Friday. Requested donations for the events range from $1,000 (for the NoPa and Palo Alto fundraisers) to between $500 and $5,000 (for the one in Mill Valley). Healey's office didn't respond to an inquiry about the trip. Her campaign declined to comment. In the past few weeks, Healey raised money for her campaign at fundraisers on Martha's Vineyard and Cape Cod, and she's regularly tapping into the deep-pocketed Democratic donor base in the Boston area. She reported raising more than $557,000 in June, her biggest fundraising haul since taking office, and has taken in more than $1.8 million since the start of the year. As of the end of July, she had close to $3.8 million in the bank. Healey has a little while before she's back on the ballot. But going big on fundraising this year means she can scoop up a second round of checks from the same donors next year, and money is already starting to flow on the Republican side. Former Housing and Economic Development Secretary Mike Kennealy has already pledged to put $2 million of his own cash in the race. Kennealy ended June with roughly $640,000 on hand, and Brian Shortsleeve, another GOP contender, had more than $442,000. Healey burned through more than $8 million during her 2022 campaign for governor, well above the $1.5 million Republican Geoff Diehl shelled out on the race. GOOD TUESDAY MORNING, MASSACHUSETTS. Texas Democrats who fled the state to try to stymie a mid-decade redistricting effort got a warm reception in Boston yesterday afternoon, including a shoutout from Gov. JB Pritzker and raucous applause from Democrats attending a private lunch at the National Conference of State Legislatures summit where the Illinois governor was speaking. At home, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott was calling for their arrest after dozens of Democratic members of the Texas state House flew to Illinois, New York and Boston on Sunday — breaking quorum and leaving the Texas Legislature unable to carry out its work. Lawmakers departed the state after Republicans there looked to move forward with a plan intended to keep the GOP in power in Congress next year by creating five GOP-friendly seats in Texas at President Donald Trump's urging. They plan to stay out of the state until the special legislative session that would set the redistricting plan in motion ends Aug. 19. 'The people expect us to fight for them, and that's what we're doing,' Texas state Rep. Armando Walle told reporters on his way out of the lunch. 'We're using the parliamentary rules that have been in place for generations.' The handful of Texas Democrats in Boston are planning to hold a press conference at the State House at 10 a.m. tomorrow before heading to Illinois, where many of their colleagues holed up in a Chicago-area hotel Monday. More on how the Texas Democrats' quorum break is playing out. TODAY — Gov. Maura Healey delivers the keynote address at the National Conference of State Legislatures at 9 a.m. and speaks at Shakespeare on the Common at 7:40 p.m. Attorney General Andrea Campbell participates in a walking tour of Manchester-by-the-Sea's Central Street Bridge project at 11:30 a.m. in Manchester-by-the-Sea. Sen. Ed Markey visits The Pryde, Boston's first LGBTQ+ senior housing development, at 2:30 p.m. and stops at Ron's Ice Cream and Bowling at 4 p.m. in Hyde Park. Boston Mayor Michelle Wu announces businesses that have been selected to participate in the Supplying Capital and Leveraging Education Program at 12:30 p.m. in Roxbury and joins the Boston Police Department for 'National Night Out' starting at 3:10 p.m. Have a tip, story, suggestion, birthday, anniversary, new job, or any other nugget for the Playbook? Drop me a line: kgarrity@ DATELINE BEACON HILL — Gov. Maura Healey received written warning about surge of migrants in transition document by Chris Van Buskirk, Boston Herald: 'Gov. Charlie Baker's administration offered a written warning to Gov. Maura Healey about a surge of migrants and dwindling state shelter capacity in November 2022, or months before she took office, according to a transition document approved by Republican gubernatorial candidate Mike Kennealy when he was secretary of state. The heads-up largely focused on the need to expand shelter capacity and provide more funding to the emergency assistance program. It also painted a bleak picture of a struggle to build enough housing as the cost of living was putting Massachusetts at a 'significant disadvantage.'' — National lawmakers zero in on political violence, anger in electorate by Chris Lisinski, State House News Service: 'A national summit of state lawmakers from around the country opened Monday with a somber tone as hosts reflected on the June assassination of Minnesota Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman and cautioned about the growing threat of political polarization. Legislative leaders from Minnesota paid tribute to Hortman as a beacon of leadership who was unafraid to reach across the aisle, and they urged attendees to honor her by working to counteract increasingly inflammatory political rhetoric. The topic became a consistent theme throughout the opening session to the three-day National Conference of State Legislatures annual summit.' FROM THE HUB — Councilor Ed Flynn wants Boston to declare a public safety and public health emergency over Mass. and Cass by Niki Griswold, The Boston Globe: 'The Boston City Council on Wednesday is set to consider a resolution filed by Councilor Ed Flynn to declare a public safety and public health emergency over open drug use and dealing around the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue and Melnea Cass Boulevard, known as Mass. and Cass. The area has long been the epicenter of the intertwining crises of homelessness and substance abuse in the city. But in recent months, frustration over the issue has reached a breaking point among South End residents, who say that public drug use and dealing have migrated from Mass. and Cass into their neighborhoods.' MAKING THEIR PITCH — The drawn-out battle between Boston and the Kraft Group over a plans for a new stadium along the Mystic River in Everett escalated Monday, as Boston Mayor Michelle Wu gathered with Boston-area electeds across from the Everett site Monday to call on the Kraft Group to agree to do more to mitigate the impact the yet-to-be-built stadium will have on neighboring Charlestown. Hours later, New England Revolution President Brian Bilello and Everett Mayor Carlo DeMaria defended the process at their own press conference on the other side of the river. Hanging over it all: The mayoral election, where Josh Kraft is challenging Wu. More from The Boston Globe's Jon Chesto. — Injured teen from Gaza arrives in Boston for medical treatment by Yasmin Amer, WBUR. SPOTTED — Boston Mayor Michelle Wu meeting with Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker after his lunchtime speech at NCSL. The duo cut a video Wu posted to Bluesky where Pritzker called her 'one of my very favorite people in the Democratic Party.' THE RACE FOR CITY HALL MONEY RACE — Boston Mayor Michelle Wu ended July with a significant cash advantage over her chief rival, Josh Kraft, according to the latest filings with the state's Office of Campaign and Political Finance. Wu raised about $247,000 last month and ended July with close to $2.5 million on hand. While Kraft raised more than $127,000 during the same period, he spent big in July — paying $1,886,000 to cover a variety of campaign-related costs. That leaves him with under $150,000 heading into the final full month of campaigning before the Sept. 9 preliminary election. RELATED — Prominent national Democrats ask Josh Kraft to stop using names, likenesses in unauthorized fund-raising push by Emma Platoff, The Boston Globe: 'On first blush, the fund-raising solicitation sure looked like it was coming from US Senator Adam Schiff, the California Democrat well known for tangling with Donald Trump. 'Hi — this is Adam Schiff,' the email read, according to a screenshot shared with the Globe. 'Josh Kraft said I could reach out with this urgent message.' But the email came from 'info@ and it was paid for by the campaign of Josh Kraft, who is running for mayor of Boston, several thousand miles east of Schiff's district. And, it turns out, Schiff never said Kraft could reach out with that urgent message. The Kraft fund-raising email sporting Schiff's name and likeness is one of at least five the campaign has sent in recent weeks that feature prominent national Democrats who have not publicly weighed in on the Boston mayor's race. At least two of those politicians have now asked the Kraft campaign to stop using their names and likenesses in the email fund-raising solicitations.' — It's not just Wu and Kraft: Meet the Boston mayoral candidates not in the spotlight by Eve Zuckoff, WBUR: 'On a steamy Tuesday night in Dorchester, a man trying to replace Michelle Wu as mayor of Boston worked up a sweat over a charcoal grill. Around him, music blasted from a DJ station, kids lined up at the Boston Police Department's ice cream truck and dozens playing basketball worked up an appetite. It wasn't Josh Kraft.' FROM HARVARD YARD — Harvard isn't close to a deal with Trump administration, sources say by Kirk Carapezza, GBH News: 'Harvard is not ready to accept a deal with the Trump administration, according to sources familiar with internal conversations on the matter. The federal government has cut research funding to numerous universities, launched investigations into those it accused of enabling antisemitic behavior, and demanded changes to school processes around race and gender. Columbia University, the University of Pennsylvania and Brown University all recently announced settlements with the federal government to restore funding and end investigations.' WARREN REPORT — Warren boosts Mamdani as model for Democratic victory by Emily Ngo, POLITICO: 'Elizabeth Warren doesn't have a problem with Zohran Mamdani being the face of the Democrats. In fact, she wants the rest of the party to follow his example on affordability. The progressive senator from Massachusetts swung by New York City on Monday to pay homage to Mamdani, who overwhelmingly won the Democratic nomination for mayor in June — but still hasn't secured endorsements from many of New York's party leaders.' FROM THE 413 — Making Chicopee 'a destination': City councilor aims to renew proposal to revitalize corridor by Namu Sampath, MassLive: 'Memorial Drive in Chicopee is a bustling, multi-lane corridor that connects the city to several surrounding towns. The 3.7-mile stretch is a 'goldmine,' according to Ward 6 Councilor Sam Shumsky, who'd like to make it safer for pedestrians and drivers alike and create more opportunities for economic development in his ward. He's proposed a related order that the City Council will take up at its meeting Tuesday.' — State throws weight behind regional affordable housing projects by Scott Merzbach, Daily Hampshire Gazette: 'Nearly 200 new apartments to be constructed in Easthampton, Hadley and Holyoke, almost all of which will be set aside for low- and moderate-income residents, are moving forward as part of $182 million in low-income housing credits and subsidies supporting 21 developments statewide approved by the Healey-Driscoll Administration.' THE LOCAL ANGLE — How much committee work gets done by New Bedford's legislative delegation? by Abigail Pritchard, The New Bedford Light: 'New Bedford's legislators sit across 23 committees. So far, just 11 of those committees have reported bills out with recommendations, seven don't have any bills assigned to them, and four haven't held any hearings.' — Taunton state official looking to change controversial MBTA housing mandate by Daniel Schemer, The Taunton Daily Gazette: ''I've always been pro-development, but this one-size-fits-all mandate doesn't work for some of my smaller communities,' said Kelly Dooner, state senator for 3rd Bristol district, who testified against the MBTA Communities Act at a recent Joint Committee on Municipalities and Regional Government.' HEARD 'ROUND THE BUBBLAH TRANSITIONS — Joe Hale is joining the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate as chief development officer. He most recently served as president of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum. — Holyoke Mayor Joshua Garcia is a finalist for the Northeast Renewable Energy Coalition's 'Mayor of the Year Award.' HAPPY BIRTHDAY — to former ambassador Rufus Gifford, Christina Pacheco, Crooked Media's Matt Berg and the Boston Globe's Jim Puzzanghera. Happy belated to Republican gubernatorial hopeful Brian Shortsleeve, who celebrated Monday.
Daily Mail
24-04-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Woke Dem Governor in big re-election danger, according to new poll
Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey is in an 'extremely vulnerable position' amid the chaos sown during her first term, according to an internal poll paid for by her Republican rival Mike Kennealy. Some 45.5 percent of voters hold a favorable opinion of the Democrat politician - but the same number dislike her as a leader, per the Opinion Diagnostics survey seen by The study of more than 800 likely Massachusetts voters from February 11-12 found that 33 percent hold a 'very' unfavorable opinion of Healey, who has served as governor since January 2023. 'After a first-year honeymoon, Healey has faced unrelenting challenges over the past sixteen months on issues such as immigration, affordability, energy, transparency, and housing,' the pollsters said. 'As a result, Healey enters the 2026 election cycle in an extremely vulnerable position.' Left-leaning Healey, 54, who is the first woman elected governor of Massachusetts and was the first lesbian woman elected attorney general of a US state, has been walking a political tightrope since Donald Trump, 78, came to power in January. The first-term Democrat from Arlington, MA, has been critical of Trump's tariffs and deportations, and blamed his policies on the 'tremendous amount of chaos, uncertainty and unpredictability' seen in Massachusetts and beyond. Despite mixed reviews of Healey among people in her state, a narrow plurality of voters approve of the job she has done as governor overall, by a 45 percent to 41 percent margin. However, she falls short on four key public policy issues - housing, taxes, the immigration crisis, and strengthening the economy. Only 25 percent of people said they approved of her work on housing, 32 percent on taxes, 33 percent on the immigration crisis, and 39 percent on the economy. When asked whether Healey has performed her job well enough to deserve re-election, only 37 percent of voters say she has, compared to 46 percent who said it's time to give a new person a chance. In a memo accompanying the Opinion Diagnostics poll, Brian Wynne, the head of the company and former campaign manager for Gov. Charlie Baker, said Healey has a 'net disapproval' of her handling of key issues like immigration and housing. 'A plurality of voters believe that Healey's job performance warrants a change in governor,' Wynne said, according to a copy of the poll obtained by 'While they are open to replacing the chief executive of the commonwealth, voters will not accept just any alternative.' The poll was commissioned by Mike Kennealy, 57, the former Massachusetts Secretary of Housing and Economic Development, who is running against Healey in the 2026 gubernatorial election. It found that in a hypothetical matchup between the two, Healey narrowly led by 37.5 percent to 35.9 percent - but among the 27 percent of voters who were undecided, more believe Healey 'does not deserve re-election', according to the memo. has contacted Healey's office for comment. Massachusetts is facing a housing affordability crisis, and needs to build more than 222,000 more housing units over the next decade to address spiraling demand, according to a Bloomberg report from February 2025. Median home prices in the Bay State have risen 73 percent since 2000, while household income has risen by only four percent over the same period, according to a report by the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities. On the ritzy Massachusetts island of Martha's Vineyard, rent prices have reached such staggering levels that doctors and nurses are leaving in droves because they simply can't afford to live on the luxury enclave. Martha's Vineyard Hospital President Denise Schepici said that one of their 'greatest challenges' is simply 'keeping people housed' - and the non-profit hospital has had to start paying for affordable housing units just to retain staffing levels. Healey's administration has described the housing crisis as 'the state's greatest challenge', and it signed the Affordable Homes Act into law. The act 'authorizes a record $2 billion for the repair, rehabilitation and modernization of the state's public housing portfolio', per Healey's release - but polls suggest residents don't think it's having enough impact. Massachusetts residents are also feeling a hit to their wallets from another angle - tax increases imposed by Healey's administration. In January, the Democrat leadership slipped a series of tax increases into her fiscal year 2026 budget, which impacted products like candy, synthetic nicotine products, and excise tax on complimentary hotel rooms. The budget also amounted to a 7.4 percent increase in overall spending compared with the fiscal year 2025 plan which was signed into law last summer - something the administration did not acknowledge. In March, Healey's administration went further by slapping additional taxes on prescription drugs - a move which was met with 'staggering disapproval' from residents, according to a Fiscal Alliance Foundation poll. The cost of living in Massachusetts is much higher than the national average. In the state's priciest city, Nantucket, the cost of living is 132 percent higher than the rest of the US, according to Rent Cafe. Bostonians tend to pay 47 percent more than the national average on the basics like rent and food, while people in Framingham pay 36 percent more, and Leominster residents spend 14 percent more on average. Massachusetts is also under strain from an influx of migrants who are sent to overcrowded centers where crime has been rife, according to the Center for Immigration Studies. The Massachusetts Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities has recorded 316 'serious incident' reports at hotels, congregate sites, scattered sites and co-shelters within the program from January 2022 until December 2024. In May 2024, Healey was forced to convert a former prison into a shelter for homeless people, many of whom are migrants. Almost 4,000 people were granted asylum in the New England state in 2023 - or 20 percent of those who applied, according to US Custom and Border Protection data. The number of migrants on the Massachusetts emergency shelter system swelled to 3,500 by mid-December, figures show. Many of those without a place to go have been camping out at Logan International Airport in Boston.
CBS News
20-04-2025
- Politics
- CBS News
Candidate for governor Mike Kennealy says state policy "driving the affordability agenda" in Massachusetts
Mike Kennealy, the first prominent Republican challenger to Maura Healey in the 2026 Massachusetts governor's race, told WBZ-TV he's focused on the future of the state and not on President Donald Trump's policies. But with those policies - including aggressive arrests of immigrants and pro-Palestinian students, mass firings of federal officials and deep cuts in federal spending relied on by key sectors of the Massachusetts economy - dominating the local headlines, aren't the federal and state stories inextricably linked? "We focus on affordability, affordability in three dimensions, housing, energy and taxes," says Kennealy, the former Secretary of Housing and Economic Development under Gov. Charlie Baker who says he blanked the presidential race all three times Trump has been on the ballot. "And I think for those issues, it's state policy that's driving the affordability agenda. We simply don't have enough housing, and we took important steps in the Baker administration to try to drive the production of more housing. And I don't think the [Healey] administration has the right strategy on that. Energy costs are simply way too high, a lot due to state policy, and taxes -- you know, this administration, Beacon Hill keeps coming up with new proposals for new taxes, so no I don't think I agree with that." Kennealy was critical of the way the Healey administration has enforced the MBTA Communities Act , a Baker-era law that requires cities and towns served by the T to allow more multi-family housing or risk losing state grants. "I'm amazed the way the dialog has evolved on this one," he says. "It has been way too contentious, and the administration has doubled down on threats and mandates and lawsuits. What they should be doing is working with their cities and towns to help them deliver the housing they want." Kennealy says the Housing Choice reform, which lowered the threshold for a local governing body to approve zoning changes from a two-thirds vote to a simple majority, was enough of a counter to the NIMBYISM that often stalls housing development. The candidate also discussed the migrant crisis and the exodus of younger workers from Massachusetts in the interview, which you can watch in the video above.
Boston Globe
03-03-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Andrea James, criminal justice advocate, files for potential primary challenge of Governor Healey
Efforts to reach James on Monday were not successful. Advertisement James is the James, of Dorchester, embraced advocacy work after she was convicted of and sentenced to two years on federal wire fraud charges. A real estate attorney, James was accused of misappropriating client funds and defrauding mortgage lenders and homeowners, according to a James has written and spoken Healey said last month that she Advertisement Her bid will also serve as a referendum on her first term, during which she's tried A No other candidate besides Healey has formally announced a plan to run for governor next year, though several Republicans may enter the race. Senator Peter Durant, a Spencer Republican and vocal critic of Healey's handling of the shelter system, said he's Mike Kennealy, a former secretary of Housing and Economic Development under then-Governor Charlie Baker, also confirmed that he is Matt Stout can be reached at
Boston Globe
30-01-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Peter Durant, a Republican state senator and Healey critic, says he's weighing gubernatorial run
'First of all, do we think a Republican can win the governorship in 2026? I think it's an unequivocal yes,' Durant said in a phone interview Thursday. 'The next question, of course you ask is, 'Can I win it or is there someone better?' That's where we're at right now. There's a pathway for us to maybe make that move.' WBUR Advertisement Durant joins a growing list of Republicans who could wage a potential campaign in 2026, when Healey is up for reelection; Healey herself has yet to say publicly whether she'll seek a second term. Mike Kennealy, a former state secretary of Housing and Economic Development under former Republican governor Charlie Baker, confirmed to the Globe earlier this month that he is Brian Shortsleeve, a former chief administrator of the MBTA under Baker, is also considering getting into the race as well, according to GOP insiders who have spoken with him. Shortsleeve did not immediately return a request for comment Thursday. Worcester County Sheriff Lew Evangelidis, a third-term Republican, said this month he also hasn't 'ruled anything out' after supporters Republicans are optimistic that 2026 could be their year to take back the governor's office. They think Healey is vulnerable on issues such as immigration and the economy, as evidenced by Donald Trump's across the state last fall. Advertisement 'I think she has had her focus elsewhere and I think she's dropped the ball on these things,' Durant said of the shelter system, where costs have ballooned to more than $1 billion a year and Healey herself has called for dramatic changes to the state's 'We have problems in this state . . . and it's looking like it's going to be a very challenging year' for the state's finances, Durant said. 'The cost of living is out of control in Massachusetts. It all ties into our quality of life, our quality of living, and the migrant crisis that this governor has dropped the ball on.' Durant said he expects to decide on whether to launch a campaign by Memorial Day. Durant has pushed legislation that would scale back the A coalition of gun owners and dealers have also put a question on the 2026 ballot Whether he wants to take on statewide run is part of the calculation, Durant said. His wife, Kate Campanale, Durant said her experience helped him realize that it's 'huge undertaking, it's a huge time commitment, it's a huge fundraising commitment.' Campanale, like her husband, had previously served in the Massachusetts House. Advertisement 'That's part of our evaluation about whether or not this is something we want to undertake,' Durant said. Matt Stout can be reached at
