Top Comments: Two Weeks To Go Edition

Two weeks from now, I’ll be publishing my weekly TC diary with the header “going to sleep early, have to be up at Pollworker O’Clock tomorrow.” It’s been a very weird election season because as we’re all painfully aware, the other side is still all about the LAST election. I cannot remember ever before spending an entire midterm campaign cycle with the National Loser and his followers tantruming about the result. Of course, I also have never lived through watching a bunch of insurrectionists storm the Nation’s capitol and threaten to kill the Vice President and Speaker of the House, spurred on by the knowingly false words of the willfully incendiary National Loser, but this is where we find ourselves.

I thought I’d give an update on things here in my corner of Massachusetts and invite you to do the same!

We’ve got six competitive races (ie the two major parties are fielding candidates):

Governor — Current AG Maura Healey vs a Trump-endorsed candidate who last lost against Elizabeth Warren. There’s essentially zero doubt that Healey will win. 

Lt Governor — Current Salem Mayor Kim Driscoll vs a candidate running because she was frustrated with vaccine mandates and claims she was fired from her nursing job as a result. Again, expect an upcoming special mayoral election in Salem in 2023.

Attorney General — Former Boston City Council President Andrea Campbell, endorsed by the aforementioned current officeholder vs a trial attorney who lost this race in 2018. There’s a 20pt polling spread suggesting we’ll soon have the first Black woman elected to statewide office!

Secretary of the Commonwealth — Bill Galvin, Secretary since 1995 is seeking his 8th term vs a failed 2018 write-in candidate who opposes early voting and vote-by-mail. He hasn’t lost in close to three decades, so yay to experience heading up the 2024 elections.

State Auditor — State Senator and party maverick Diane DiZoglio vs Baker (not Trump)-endorsed Director of Security at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Anthony Amore. This is the most competitive statewide race but there’s still a 10-15pt polling lead. 

Congressional Representative — Given the choice between Katherine Clark and a 2020 election denier, I’ll take my current Rep :)

We have one essentially uncontested race:

Treasurer — Deb Goldberg is asking voters for a third term and has no Republican challenger. 

We also have four ballot questions, which I’m summarizing based on this article by WGBH:

Question 1 — A yes vote would amend the state’s constitution to introduce a new 4% surtax on income over $1 million. Funds earmarked (w Legislature approval) for education and transportation projects.

Question 2 — A yes vote would require 83 cents of every dollar paid in premiums be spent on patient care, not administrative expenses.

Question 3 — will change rules for licensing alcohol sales. I admit this is the one question I’m still parsing out because it’s complicated.

Question 4 — allows a law to take effect permitting immigrants to obtain MA driver’s licenses regardless of documentation status. It will NOT allow noncitizens to register to vote.

In addition, my State Representative and Senator are both up for re-election. The Rep is unopposed and the Senator has a close but winnable race against a truly repugnant candidate.

I’m hopeful that when Election Night is over, I’ll have a plethora of strong Democratic officials (a majority of whom will be women!!) and good news on our four ballot questions. What’s it look like in your location? Please share in the comments!

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