Gov. Maura Healey says she is running for reelection.
Healey announced her intention to seek a second term on GBH’s Boston Public Radio Friday.
“I plan to run for reelection because there’s a lot more to do,” said Healey. “I love my job. I feel incredibly privileged to be in this position, and I’d love to have the opportunity to continue to work for the great people of this state.”
Healey was elected to her first term as governor in 2022. She previously served two terms as Massachusetts attorney general.
Contacted just after Healey’s announcement, Amy Carnevale, the chair of the Massachusetts Republican Party, said the GOP has been assuming that Healey would seek a second term as it gears up for the 2026 governor’s race.
“As a party, we fully expected that she would seek a second term, and we expect to have robust opposition to her candidacy for reelection,” Carnevale said.
Carnevale struck a more aggressive tone in a statement emailed out by the Massachusetts GOP later Friday, which offered a preview of how Republicans might go about contesting Healey’s reelection bid.
“Governor Healey has disappointed residents time and again, steering Massachusetts into an era of secrecy, mismanagement, and financial irresponsibility,” Carnevale said. “Under her leadership ... billions [have been] wasted on a migrant crisis that has spiraled into a full-blown humanitarian disaster — marked by sexual assaults, drug trafficking, child abuse, and violent crime.”
Several Republicans are reportedly considering gubernatorial bids, including Mike Kennealy, who served as secretary of housing and economic development under former Gov. Charlie Baker; Brian Shortsleeve, who ran the MBTA under Baker; and state Sen. Peter Durant of Spencer.
An October 2024 poll from UMass reflected both the strength of Healey’s position and the challenges she might face as she seeks a second term. While 58% of respondents approved of Healey’s performance as governor, 41% said they believed the state was on the wrong track, the highest such number in more than four years. Respondents also saw housing as the biggest challenge facing the state, though just 8% attributed responsibility for housing difficulties to Healey.
“She looks like a candidate that will become the next governor of the state,” Tatishe Nteta, the director of the UMass Poll, told GBH News, calling Healey “among the most popular statewide officials in the commonwealth.”
“All of the information that we have about her approval rating, about the various crises that the state’s facing — whether that’s the housing crisis or the migrant crisis — points to people recognizing that these are issues that need to be solved, but people are not looking at the governor as directly responsible,” he added.
“All that being said, the issue of housing, the issue of inflation, the issue of the migrant crisis all going to be used against her by whoever the Republican challenger is,” Nteta continued. “And she’s going to need to demonstrate that she’s attempted to [solve], if not solved, these problems in order to ensure her victory.”
Healey easily won election in 2022, garnering 64% of the vote compared to 35% for Republican Geoff Diehl.
While Massachusetts is frequently described as a Democrat-dominated state, voters have previously shown an affinity for electing Republicans to the Corner Office, including Charlie Baker in 2014 and 2018, Mitt Romney in 2002, and Paul Cellucci in 1998.
