Yes, Democrat Attorney General Maura Healey is breaking down obstacles.
If she wins in November, she would be the first girls elected governor of Massachusetts. In addition, she can be the primary overtly homosexual girl governor within the state, and maybe within the nation.
But first she should defeat conservative Republican Geoff Diehl, which she is closely favored to do.
Healey will not be solely awash in marketing campaign cash, however she was capable of husband her sources as a result of her solely Democrat major opponent, state Sen. Sonia Chang-Diaz, dropped out of the first race. With no Democrat opponent Healey was not pressured to defend her eight-year file as legal professional basic within the major. There have been no debates.
Most importantly, although, is that Healey, a progressive Democrat, is working in a closely progressive and Democrat state.
Diehl, who was endorsed by former President Donald Trump, defeated average Wrentham businessman Chris Doughty for the GOP nomination. While the millionaire Doughty ran a marketing campaign that was largely self-funded, Diehl, a person of modest means, spent what little marketing campaign cash he had raised for November in a September major. Now he should elevate a ton of cash if he’s to be aggressive.
His hope is that Trump and Trump supporters will start elevating marketing campaign funds for him since he’s now seen nationally as Trump’s Massachusetts candidate. So, it’s all uphill for underdog Diehl.
Not so for Healey.
While Healey is breaking down obstacles, she might need to take care of one other hurdle. And that’s the “Jinx of the Job.” The jinx is that no legal professional basic or former legal professional basic has been elected governor for nearly 75 years, regardless of quite a few makes an attempt.
The final one to run and win was Democrat Paul A. Dever again in 1948, and he received after being out of workplace for seven years. Since then, eight attorneys basic or former attorneys basic — seven Democrats and one Republican — have run for governor and all have misplaced, with one dying in the course of the marketing campaign. That was Attorney General George Finegold, the primary Jewish politician elected to statewide workplace. He died all of a sudden at 49 simply earlier than the 1958 Republican conference.
The different attorneys basic or formers, all Democrats, who ran and misplaced have been Francis “Sweepstakes” Kelly, who ran for governor earlier than, throughout and after he was legal professional basic; Edward J. McCormack in 1966, Robert H. Quinn in 1974, Frank Bellotti in 1990, Scott Harshbarger in 1998, Tom Reilly in 2006 and Martha Coakley in 2014.
Unlike all of the others, nonetheless, Healey went out on a limb to call her successor — Andrea Campbell — as legal professional basic, one thing that has not been finished earlier than, not to mention in a contested Democrat major. Coakley didn’t even do that for Healey when Healey, then an assistant legal professional basic, ran to succeed Coakley when Coakley gave up the job to run for governor.
Campbell, who was defeated for mayor of Boston within the final election, received the contentious major for legal professional basic over Shannon Liss-Riordan who spent some $9 million of her personal cash in her shedding effort. Quentin Palfrey, the third Democrat candidate, dropped out of the race and endorsed Campbell.
While Healey stayed out of the three-way contest for lieutenant governor, she went all out to assist Campbell, continuously referring to Campbell as “my successor.” Healey acts as if Campbell as legal professional basic will work for her, as an alternative of heading an impartial regulation enforcement company with the ability to research wrongdoing on the State House, together with the governor’s workplace.
Campbell, if elected over Republican Jay McMahon, will owe Healey politically. Big time. And Healey will count on political favors in return.
Years in the past, Frank Bellotti professionalized and depoliticized the legal professional basic’s workplace when he moved your complete workplace out of the political environment of the State House and into the excessive rise McCormack Building. His intention was to take State House politics out of the workplace.
Healey plans to deliver the politics again.
Peter Lucas is a veteran Massachusetts political reporter and columnist.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”