With decisive win, Healey calls it a ‘moment of hope and action'

Gov. Maura Healey won a second term Tuesday, defeating Republican Mike Minogue as Democrats rode a national wave and Massachusetts voters opted to keep the incumbent in office.

The race was called just one minute after polls closed, giving Healey an early victory on a night when Democrats made gains across the country.

At a jubilant election night gathering at the Fairmont Copley Plaza in Boston, Healey celebrated alongside Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll, thanking supporters and promising to make affordability a central focus of her second term.

“I have an obligation, a responsibility, to get up every day and to drive change with urgency in action,” Healey told supporters.

About 17 miles away at the Boston Marriott Burlington, Republican challenger Mike Minogue offered a different message to a quieter crowd: “We have fought the good fight. We have finished the race, and we have kept the faith.”

The contrast captured campaigns that ended with Healey about to join the list of two-term governors and Minogue falling short in his bid to become the first challenger in 52 years to defeat an incumbent Massachusetts governor.

When the candidates took their respective stages after 9:30 p.m., Healey promised to be a governor for all residents, including those who didn’t vote for her.

“I’ll show up for you. I’ll fight for you. I’ll be a governor for everyone,” she said.

Minogue said, “An election determines who holds the office. It does not determine what we believe in, and how much we care about the commonwealth.”

The results marked a decisive victory for Healey, an Arlington Democrat who campaigned on defending her first-term record and positioning herself as a bulwark against Republican President Donald Trump. Minogue, a retired biotech executive who spent a record $19.5 million of his own money on his campaign, challenged her on the state’s high cost of living and alleged corruption and lack of accountability in her administration.
The Republican’s election night gathering began with considerably more optimism than it ended.

A DJ played a mix of familiar party hits, including “Jessie’s Girl,” Earth, Wind & Fire’s “September” and “Summer of ’69,” while women in Minogue-branded cowboy hats danced to ABBA. A man dressed as a Minuteman circulated through the room carrying a flag.

Former gubernatorial candidate Mike Kennealy was among the Republicans in attendance, as was treasurer candidate Elizabeth Dionne. No Republican state lawmakers were apparent at the gathering.

The evening opened with a call from an emcee asking, “Who is here for a victory party?” Supporters sang along to “Sweet Caroline” and “We’re Not Gonna Take It” before Father Paul O’Brien, a Catholic priest from Lawrence, led a prayer.

“Everybody shut up and pray,” O’Brien said, prompting laughter, before asking attendees of different faiths to take a moment to connect with God.

The prayer drew cheers, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance, the national anthem and chants of “USA! USA! USA!”

But the mood changed quickly after the race was called for Healey. When the projection was announced on two large screens around 8:05 p.m., boos rang out.

“We believe every vote deserves to be counted,” Minogue’s communications director Elizabeth Hopkins said at 8:20 p.m.

By 9 p.m., the Republican mood remained uncertain.

“It’s not looking so good at the top of the ticket,” MassGOP Executive Director Haley Jones told the News Service around 9 p.m., while noting that Republicans were still watching several down-ballot races.

Jones said Republican candidates had put up a strong fight and raised concerns about corruption, fraud and accountability in state government. She also pointed to the campaign’s emphasis on a legislative audit — “The audit is very important to our base. They all talk about that” — and the opportunity to put Treasurer Deb Goldberg on the debate stage for the first time in a decade.

But she acknowledged the national political environment was difficult for Republicans.

“I don’t want to use the term blue wave yet, but there’s certainly a blue undertow ripping through Massachusetts,” she said.

When Minogue took the stage at 9:36 p.m., he thanked supporters for what he described as one of the most rewarding experiences of his life.

“Nobody has beaten an incumbent of either party in 52 years,” he said. “We knew it would be uphill, but we also knew this is a tipping point for the election, for our state.”

He said the campaign had been about giving a voice to people who had lost hope in Massachusetts.

“I want to thank God for giving me the calling and the belief that this was the path that I would serve,” he said.

Quoting biblical language, he told supporters: “We have fought the good fight. We have finished the race, and we have kept the faith.”

Some in the crowd booed when he acknowledged the result, and others shouted objections when he congratulated Healey.

“The voters have spoken,” he said. “The results are not what we had hoped for, and certainly not what we worked for. But the people made their choice, and it is our responsibility now to respect the will of the people.”

When he told the crowd that running for office was a great experience and that “I recommend everyone try it once,” several people called out, “2030!”

Asked by reporters afterward whether he might run again, Minogue declined to make any commitments.

“Right now I’m just focusing on getting a good night’s sleep,” he said, describing plans to go running without having to videotape it for his campaign’s social media, and to spend time with his children, who will be home for the weekend.

Asked where his campaign went wrong, he offered a blunt answer: “Well, we didn’t get enough votes. That’s what we did wrong.”

In Boston, Healey’s victory speech was more forward-looking, with the governor describing the election as a mandate to continue working on the issues affecting residents’ everyday lives.

She thanked Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll, calling her “the best lieutenant governor in the country,” and pushed back against suggestions during the campaign that Massachusetts might not need a lieutenant governor.

“Massachusetts doesn’t just need a lieutenant governor. We need Kim Driscoll,” Healey said.

Healey also congratulated Democrats who won races across the country, and noted that the party appeared poised for a strong night nationally.

But she said her own takeaway from the election was a responsibility to act quickly.

“Now, I know there’s going to be a lot of political analysis and discussion over the next few days about what this election means,” she said. “But here’s what it means to me. It means that I have an obligation, a responsibility, to get up every day and to drive change with urgency in action.”

She identified lowering costs as the starting point, calling for more housing, increased energy production to bring down utility bills, lower health care costs and expanded access to primary, mental and maternal health care.

She also raised concerns about protecting children in a world shaped by social media and preserving jobs as artificial intelligence changes the economy.

Many of the priority areas named by Healey are covered by policies that are currently tied up in legislative conference committees, which are expected to produce compromises over the next two months.

The governor said she wanted Massachusetts to remain a place where young people could afford to stay and residents could exercise their rights and freedoms.

“Tonight’s a moment of hope and of action,” she said. “Hope and action. That’s what Kim Driscoll and I are all about, and that’s what the next four years are going to be about.”

The second term will bring its own political challenges. Healey has struggled at times to move her agenda through a Legislature controlled by fellow Democrats.

Whether the governor can translate her reelection into greater influence on Beacon Hill will be an early test of her second term.

“So let’s celebrate tonight,” she told supporters, “and in the morning we’re going to get back to work.”
She walked off the stage to the Black Eyed Peas’ “I Gotta Feeling,” as Minogue left to Frank Sinatra’s “My Way.”

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