The get-out-the-vote event gubernatorial candidate Maura Healey held Wednesday evening had the feel of a pep rally. It took place in a gym, with frequent references to Healey’s background as a basketball player, from staff wearing “My governor is a baller” T-shirts to her running mate Kim Driscoll calling on voters to “lace up their sneakers” and get out on Election Day.
But the Democratic politicians who took the stage, Vice President Kamala Harris among them, worked to convince the crowd that the stakes at hand next week are higher than simply whether their team wins or loses.
Polls have shown the Democratic candidates for statewide office in Massachusetts hold double-digit leads over their opponents, making this not the type of close election that might typically get a last-minute push from the White House.
Harris told Democrats in Massachusetts that their moves over the next six days do matter, though, encouraging them to talk to their neighbors, friends and cousins who live in other states.
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She highlighted the Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson decision in June that eliminated the constitutional right to abortion and left the issue to states.
"This is also why who is your governor, who is your lieutenant governor, who is your attorney general and who is your secretary of state will matter — to hold the line and be an example for other states, if not a safe space for people from other states to receive the health care they need," Harris said.
Healey, too, talked about abortion in her speech, telling the audience she’d stand with them in protecting reproductive freedom. Her Republican opponent, Geoff Diehl, opposes abortion, though he has said the state's laws around it would ultimately be determined by the Legislature.
"Massachusetts, we are going to once again reject Trumpism, we will always protect a woman's access to abortion, and together, we're going to work to send a loud and clear message on Election Day," she said.
Though the rally focused on Democrats running for state-level office, national issues were front and center ahead of the Nov. 8 election that will decide control of the U.S. House and Senate for the next two years.
Rep. Ayanna Pressley, who faces a challenge from Republican Donnie Palmer, drew cheers when she described Democrats as the party of "empathy and compassion, of union families, the party that cancels your student debt, the party that puts people over profits, the party that cares about the Black maternal morbidity crisis, the party that believes in bodily autonomy."
"On Tuesday, six days from today, Nov. 8, we will send a resounding message that the politics of justice and healing is what we deserve and what we demand,” she said.
While Pressley and Harris found a receptive audience to national messaging in the crowd gathered at Roxbury’s Reggie Lewis Center, Diehl has repeatedly cast the link between the Healey-Driscoll ticket and the White House in a negative light. He said in a statement Wednesday that his opponents want "to rubberstamp President [Joe] Biden's failed, woke policies and continue to wage a war on energy that is bankrupting our households."
Throughout the campaign, Healey has maintained a strong lead over Diehl in polls — the latest, out last week from UMass Amherst and WCVB, showed her ahead by 28 points. Diehl has knocked the methodology of that survey, and said Wednesday that the fact that Healey and Driscoll were "dragging in Kamala Harris from DC to campaign for them" means the Democrats are worried about losing.
Harris has ties to both Healey and attorney general candidate Andrea Campbell that pre-date this election — Healey, the current attorney general, worked with Harris when she was the California AG, and Campbell said she campaigned in Iowa for Harris’ 2020 presidential bid.
Campbell said Harris made the trip to "to get us over the finish line." She said that this election poses an opportunity for Massachusetts to "lead not just on the issues, but we will be the national leader when it comes to a government in Massachusetts that’s reflective of the communities it serves."
If Healey and Driscoll win, they’ll be the first all-women executive office team in the country, according to their campaign. Campbell is vying to become the first Black woman elected statewide in Massachusetts, as is Republican secretary of state candidate Rayla Campbell.
A Healey victory would interrupt what’s been called the “curse” of the attorney general, with each sitting Massachusetts AG who’s tried to move to the corner office since the 1960s coming up short. Healey’s predecessor, Attorney General Martha Coakley, lost to current Gov. Charlie Baker by just 40,000 votes in 2014.
Healey’s team might have that recent history in mind.
"This is the time to pull out the stops, leave it all on the court," Healey said.
