BOSTON (AP) — Attorney General Maura Healey won the Democratic primary for governor in Massachusetts on Tuesday, bringing her one step closer to becoming the first openly gay candidate and the first woman elected to the state’s highest political office – eight years after being elected the nation. first openly gay attorney general.
Healey, whose only rival for the nomination dropped out of the race but remained on the ballot, will be the heavy favorite in November against the winner of the Republican primary. Former State Representative Geoff Diehlwhich was endorsed by former President Donald Trump, and businessman Chris Doughtywho is considered more moderate, is running for the GOP nomination.
The current incumbent, centrist Republican Governor Charlie Baker, decided not to seek a third term. He did not endorse either of the two Republican candidates.
At his victory party on Tuesday night, Healey told his cheering supporters that whether Diehl or Doughty emerges as his GOP opponent, “We know he will be out of touch with the values we stand for.” Speaking of the two candidates, she added, “They will bring Trumpism to Massachusetts.”
Healey, 51, touted his efforts as the state’s top law enforcement official to protect students and homeowners from predatory lenders. Healey also sued Exxon Mobil Corp. to find out whether the oil giant misled investors and the public about its knowledge of climate change – a case still pending in court – and Targeted OxyContin manufacturer Purdue Pharma and members of the Sackler family over allegations that they misled patients and doctors about the risks of opioids. In 2021, Healey announced a resolution to this matter.
His most frequent target, however, was Trump. Healey led or joined dozens of lawsuits against Trump while he was president. One of his firsts challenged Trump’s travel ban, which would have barred teachers and students from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Iran, Iraq and Syria, from coming to Massachusetts, which attracts students from all over the world.
On Tuesday, Republican voters in the state will be just the last to decide whether the party will embrace Trumpism more or is ready to return to the center. In recent primaries in other blue states like Maryland and ConnecticutGOP voters nominated Trump loyalists, hurting the party’s chances of winning against a Democrat in the November general election.
Voting in the Cape Cod town of Barnstable has been extended until midnight after a mechanical issue with the town clerk’s safe prevented the clerk from accessing ballots, delaying the delivery of ballots. ballots at polling stations.
Diehl, the favorite among Republican Party delegates from the state of Massachusetts, has ties to Trump that extend to 2016, when he served as co-chair of Trump’s presidential campaign in the state. Trump has lost Massachusetts by nearly 30 percentage points in his two presidential campaigns. Diehl also opposed COVID-19 protocols and praised the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade.
Doughty said he supports some of Trump’s initiatives, but wants to focus on the challenges facing Massachusetts, which he says is increasingly unaffordable.
Diehl came to kiss Trump’s false claims that he won the 2020 election. Diehl said last year he did not believe it was a “stolen election”, but later said the election was rigged, despite dozens of court cases, local officials and Trump’s own attorney general saying the vote was legitimate. Doughty, meanwhile, said he believed President Joe Biden was legitimately elected.
The challenge for both is that Trump’s support may play well among the party’s conservative wing, but could be a political albatross in a state where registered Republicans make up less than 10% of the electorate, compared to around 31% for Democrats and about 57% for Independents.
Diehl faced a similar struggle when he challenged Democratic U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren in 2018. He won a three-way Republican primary to secure just over a third of the vote in the general election.
Doughty said he would work to reduce taxes and said that although he considers himself ‘pro-life’, he accepts the state Supreme Court’s decision recognizing the right to abortion in Massachusetts .
Massachusetts has a history of electing fiscally conservative and socially moderate Republican governors, including former governors. William Weld and Mitt Romney – to control overwhelming Democratic legislative majorities. Baker, another Republican in that mold, remained popular in the state.
Healey is widely seen as a strong favorite to win the governorship, particularly if Diehl, the Trump-backed nominee, were to win. Healey said she would work to expand job training programs, make child care more affordable and modernize schools. Healey also said she would protect “access to safe and legal abortion in Massachusetts” following the Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade.
But Healey faces a strange hurdle in Massachusetts — the so-called Attorney General’s Curse. Since 1958, six former Massachusetts attorneys general have sought the governor’s office. Everything failed.
The state once had a female governor, although she was appointed to that position. Republican Jane Swift served as interim governor after Governor Paul Cellucci left in 2001 to become US ambassador to Canada.
Tuesday’s election also includes several contested Democratic primaries across the state, including for attorney general and secretary of the commonwealth.
Two Democrats vying for top law enforcement office: former Boston City Councilwoman Andrea Campbell and workers’ rights attorney Shannon Liss-Riordan. A week before the election, a third candidate, former Assistant Attorney General Quentin Palfrey, announced he was suspending his campaign and endorsed Campbell; he remained on the ballot.
Campbell would be the first black woman to hold the office in Massachusetts if elected.
The winner will face Republican Jay McMahona lawyer who once ran against Healey and lost.
Incumbent Democrat Commonwealth Secretary William Galvinwho was seeking an eighth term, defeated fellow Democrat Tanisha Sullivan, president of the Boston branch of the NAACP. Sullivan would have been the first black to hold that position if elected.
Galvin will face Republican Rayla Campbell in November. Campbell is also black.
There are also contested races in the Democratic primary for auditor and in the Democratic and Republican races for lieutenant governor.
None of the nine incumbent members of the United States Democratic House face major opponents. There are two disputed Republican primaries in the 8th and 9th congressional districts.
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