With less than a month until the Nov. 8 Massachusetts general election, it's time for residents to decide who gets their vote. Voters will choose who will run the Bay State state after Gov. Charlie Baker and who will serve as its top legal officer, among other contested races.
The year 2022 could be a political watershed for Massachusetts women, who won five of six statewide primary contests. Attorney General Maura Healey is heavily favored to flip the Republican-held governor’s office, which would make her the state’s first woman and first openly gay candidate elected chief executive. Andrea Campbell, the former Boston city councilor hoping to succeed Healey as attorney general, would be the first Black woman to hold that post.
And since candidates for governor and lieutenant governor run together in the general election, Healey is poised to make history with her running mate, Salem Mayor Kim Driscoll, by becoming the first two-female governor/lieutenant governor ticket elected to lead any state. Here's everything you need to know about the names you'll see on the ballot.
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Massachusetts Governor
Republican Charlie Baker isn't in the governor's race -- he's serving out the remainder of his second term before leaving office without running for re-election and without endorsing a candidate to replace him. Massachusetts has three choices; Democrat Maura Healey, Republican Geoff Diehl and Libertarian Kevin Reed.
Diehl and Healey fought for voters' support earlier this month during the first televised debate between the current attorney general and former state representative.
Healey, 51, has served as the state's attorney general since 2014. Born in Maryland and once a member of the Harvard women's basketball team, Healey would be the first woman elected governor in the state's history. (Jane Swift served as acting governor from 2001-03, taking over mid-term for Paul Cellucci, but was never elected.) Healey would also become the state’s first openly gay candidate elected governor and the nation’s first openly lesbian chief executive of a state.
Diehl, 53, is seeking the governor's office following an unsuccessful bid to unseat Sen. Elizabeth Warren in 2018. Originally from Texas, Diehl has the backing of the state Republican party, along with former President Donald Trump's. He co-chaired Trump's 2016 presidential campaign in Massachusetts.
There was a lot of back and forth during the first debate, which was held by NBC10 Boston, NECN and Telemundo Boston, on issues that have been making a lot of headlines lately, including immigration, housing, inflation, taxes, transportation, education and climate change.
More on the Mass. Governor's Race
Massachusetts Attorney General
Former Boston City Council president Andrea Campbell and Republican trial attorney Jay McMahon are in November's contest to succeed Healey as the state's top law enforcement official.
Campbell, a former deputy legal counsel under Gov. Deval Patrick, ran for mayor of Boston in 2021. She turned her sights to the attorney general's office hoping to make the position what she called "an advocate for fundamental change and progress."
McMahon, a Bourne attorney, has a background in law enforcement and has pledged to end the "wokeness" of the attorney general's office. He was the GOP's nominee for attorney general in 2018 and he took about 805,000 votes to Healey's 1,874,000.
Massachusetts Auditor
Sen. Diana DiZoglio (D-Methuen) and Republican Anthony Amore are vying for the chance to succeed state Auditor Suzanne Bump, who opted not to seek reelection.
DiZoglio, a second-term senator who served three terms in the House before winning election to the Senate in 2018, has long been a vocal advocate for restricting the use of non-disclosure agreements on Beacon Hill and has clashed with Democratic leadership about how much time lawmakers receive to review legislation.
Amore, of Winchester, is the head of security at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston and was the party's 2018 nominee for secretary of state. Amore is a rare candidate to have the official endorsement of the outgoing Gov. Baker. He has pitched himself as a Republican check on the Democratic Party's supermajorities in both branches of the Legislature and potentially among constitutional offices.
Court records show that his ex-wife filed for a restraining order in 2009, accusing Amore of emotional and verbal abuse.
Massachusetts Secretary of State
Incumbent Secretary of State William Galvin is seeking his eighth, and potentially final, four-year term with two challengers; Republican Rayla Campbell and Juan Sanchez of the Green-Rainbow Party.
Galvin has pitched himself to voters as a reliable and effective elections administrator who now holds a senior position among elections officials nationally. The Brighton Democrat was elected to eight terms in the Massachusetts House beginning in 1975 and could surpass former Secretary Frederic Cook's record 28-year tenure in the secretary's office if he wins in November.
Campbell is a Whitman Republican whose campaign has largely revolved around government mandates and the sexualization of children.
Massachusetts Treasurer
Treasurer Deborah Goldberg of Brookline is seeking a third term in office with Libertarian Cris Crawford as her only challenger. If she is reelected in November, Goldberg would become the longest-serving state treasurer since Robert Crane, who served more than a quarter-century in the post from the mid-1960s to the early 1990s.
Massachusetts Congressional Races
The Massachusetts Congressional delegation is comprised exclusively of democrats, but representatives in each district have a republican challenger, with one exception. Jake Auchincloss is unopposed in the fourth district and did not have a primary opponent this cycle either.
In the first congressional district, incumbent Democrat Richard Neal, chair of the House Committee on Ways and Means, is facing Republican challenger Dean James Martilli. Republican Jeffrey Sossa-Paquette is challenging incumbent democrat James "Jim" McGovern in the second district.
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In the third congressional district, incumbent Democrat Lori Trahan is running against Republican challenger Dean Tran. In the fifth, Republican Caroline Colarusso is challenging incumbent Democrat Katherine Clark.
Congressman Seth Moulton has two challengers in the sixth congressional district; Republican Bob May of Peabody and Libertarian Mark Tashjian of Georgetown. Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley is being challenged by Republican Donnie Dionicio Palmer Jr.
In the eighth district, incumbent Democrat Stephen Lynch is facing Republican Robert Burke of Milton. Finally, in the ninth congressional district, current Rep. Bill Keating is running against Republican Jesse Brown of Plymouth.
What About Ballot Questions?
Click here for a closer look at the 2022 Massachusetts ballot questions.
State House News Service contributed to this report.
