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Democratic Attorney General Maura Healey has been elected governor of Massachusetts, making history as the state’s first woman and first openly gay candidate elected to the office.
Healey defeated Republican Geoff Diehl, a former state representative backed by former President Donald Trump. Her election returns the governor’s office to Democrats after eight years of Republican leadership after popular Gov. Charlie Baker chose not to seek re-election.
Healey and her running mate, Salem Mayor Kim Driscoll, are three all-female gubernatorial/lieutenant votes in the U.S. starting Election Day, with a chance to be the first to choose to lead the state such a pairing.
The Arkansas Republicans nominated Sarah Huckabee Sanders for governor and Leslie Rutledge for lieutenant governor. In Ohio, Democrat South Wiley is running for governor, with Cheryl Stephens as her running mate.
Healy is also one of two lesbian candidates to openly run for governor of the country. Healey and Democrat Tina Kotek, a candidate for governor in Oregon, each began the day with a chance to become the first openly lesbian person elected governor of a state.
Healey — elected eight years ago as the nation’s first openly gay attorney general — snapped what’s become known in Massachusetts as the “curse of the attorney general.” Since 1958, six former Massachusetts attorneys general have sought the governor’s office. both failed.
During the campaign, Healey pledged to expand vocational training programs, make childcare more affordable and modernize schools. Healey also said she would protect “access to safe and legal abortion in Massachusetts” following the Supreme Court’s overturn of Roe v. Wade.
The 51-year-old also examines what she believes to be a raft of accomplishments during her tenure as the state’s top law enforcement official, including protecting students and homeowners from predatory lenders, and examining whether the oil major misled investors and the public. Sue ExxonMobil over its knowledge of climate change.
Healey also accused OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma and members of the Sackler family of deceiving patients and doctors about the risks of opioids.
During the campaign, the Democrat warned Deere that he would “bring Trumpism to Massachusetts.” Deere served as co-chair of former President Donald Trump’s first presidential campaign in Massachusetts and won his support for governors in states that rejected Trump outright in 2016 and 2020.
Although Healey is the first woman in Massachusetts elected governor, she’s not the first to serve in the office. Jane Swift, a Republican who was then lieutenant governor, became acting governor in 2001, and then Governor Paul Cellucci ) resigned as ambassador to Canada. Swift was never elected governor.
Republicans have held corner offices in the state Capitol for eight years since 1991, barring Democrat Deval Patrick’s tenure as governor.
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