Episodes
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Wu Hits the Hundred-Day Mark
One hundred days isn’t enough time to say whether Mayor Michelle Wu will be able to realize her biggest political goals, like creating a Boston Green New Deal or implementing some form of rent stabilization. But it’s an appropriate point for sizing up Wu’s early victories and setbacks — and asking whether she’s made good, so far, on her pledge to govern differently than her predecessors. Adam Reilly sizes up Wu’s tenure to date with his GBH News colleague Saraya Wintersmith, Abdallah Fayyad of the Boston Globe, and Gintautas Dumcius of the Dorchester Reporter. -
When Baker Leaves, Can Bakerism Abide?
Governor Charlie Baker’s second and final term is nearing its end, but the governor has a developing plan to shape Massachusetts politics for years to come. The Boston Globe’s Emma Platoff and Politico’s Lisa Kashinsky join Adam Reilly to discuss that topic. Also on the conversational agenda: Danielle Allen’s gubernatorial exit and critique of the #mapoli status quo, the pending reopening of the Massachusetts State House, Mayor Michelle Wu’s potentially problematic inaugural fundraising, and Wu’s determination to continue engaging with her sharpest critics. Plus, GBH News’s new Morning Edition hosts, Paris Alston and Jeremy Siegel, talk with Adam about what they think makes Massachusetts politics different—and how they plan to cover it differently. -
Wash, Rinse, Repeat: Another leadership change at the Boston Public Schools
When BPS superintendent Brenda Cassellius exits this spring after a three-year tenure, she’ll be the latest in a series of short-term leaders for the state’s biggest public-school system. So what will it take for her successor to turn things around? GBH News politics editor and Latyoa Gale — director of advocacy at Neighborhood Villages Action Fund and, like Peter, a BPS parent—join Adam Reilly with their thoughts. But first: as COVID numbers drop, just how quickly should schools, businesses, and society at large get back to normal? As state and local officials plan some big changes, they’re getting pushback from critics who think they’re either moving too fast or not moving not fast enough. GBH News's Saraya Wintersmith and Mike Deehan join Adam to talk about what’s happening in Boston and beyond. -
In Massachusetts politics in 2022, who counts as a "progressive"?
In this week’s Talking Politics debrief, Saraya Wintersmith, Peter Kadzis, and Adam Reilly size up Andrea Campbell and Rahsaan Hall’s bids for attorney general and Plymouth County district attorney; a new push for reparations in Boston; Republican gubernatorial candidate Geoff Diehl’s hiring of Trump confidante Corey Lewandowski; and secretary of state Bill Galvin’s push for more transparency in the governor’s office. In the second segment, Adam is joined by Left of Center cofounder Mara Dolan and Jetpac head Mohammed Missouri to analyze Maura Healey’s moderate pitch as she starts running for governor; how it could impact the other Democratic candidates’ campaigns; and what, exactly, it means to be a “progressive” in Massachusetts politics in 2022. -
Is Michelle Wu winning the vax-mandate fight?
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu was dealt a blow to her employee-vaccine mandate this week, when a court temporarily halted it from going into effect. But some argue she's still winning the bigger battle. Adam Reilly is joined by the Bay State Banner's Yawu Miller and UMass Dartmouth's Shannon Jenkins on that, their disappointment with the latest voting-rights legislation in the State House, Governor Charlie Baker's final state-of-the-state speech, and another new candidate in the race to replace Baker: Republican businessman and self-described moderate Chris Doughty, who may face an uphill battle in the age of Trump. Also, nearly two years into the pandemic, many parents and caregivers of kids under five are feeling left behind and, in some cases forgotten. What more could policymakers be doing to help them stay afloat, economically and psychologically? Adam is joined by GBH News' Craig LeMoult and Gladys Vega, of La Colaborativa, to discuss. -
Why won't the Massachusetts Legislature act on voting rights?
Ever since the Capitol insurrection, the fight over the future of voting rights has emerged as an issue of paramount importance, with Republican-controlled states taking steps to make voting more difficult and pave the way for the overturning of future elections and congressional Democrats trying, and failing, to advance legislation to create new national standards. So why are voting rights an afterthought at the Massachusetts State House? Adam Reilly talks it through with state Representative Erika Uyterhoeven and Cheryl Crawford, who heads the advocacy group MassVOTE. In the second segment, Adam discusses the increasingly fraught politics of protest with former Boston City Councilor Tito Jackson and former Mass. GOP chair Jennifer Nassour. -
Will Wu's Mass And Cass Plan Work?
For years, the encampments at Mass and Cass embodied some of society’s most intractable problems — addiction, mental health, and homelessness — and constituted a crisis in their own right. Now they’re gone thanks to a new initiative by Boston Mayor Michelle Wu. But will her solution hold? And what will the people who called Mass and Cass home do now? Adam Reilly talks it through with Tori Bedford, who’s been regularly reporting on Mass and Cass for GBH News. Next, GBH News senior editor Peter Kadzis and Boston Globe opinion columnist Marcela Garcia tackle those same questions, as well as Governor Charlie Baker’s appearance before the Legislature’s COVID-oversight committee and the possible return of rent control in Boston and beyond. The episode closes with two more GBH News reporters, Saraya Wintersmith and Craig LeMoult, discussing the protests outside Mayor Wu’s home and the impact COVID is having on psychiatric care in Massachusetts. -
The politics of COVID in Massachusetts
COVID has been political ever since the pandemic started. But as the omicron variant surges, disputes over authority, policy, and the tension public health and personal autonomy have become especially sharp. Adam Reilly sizes up these fault lines and how they could shift in the future with GBH News political editor PEter Kadzis, state Senator Becca Rausch, and “Java With Jimmy” host James Hills. -
How 2021 is ending--and what to watch in 2022
On this episode of Talking Politics, Sue O’Connell fills in for Adam Reilly (health and safety protocols). She and the rest of the GBH News political team—Saraya Wintersmith, Mike Deehan, and Peter Kadzis—size up the biggest end-of-the-year happenings, including Boston Mayor Michelle Wu’s plan to address the longstanding crisis at Mass and Cass and Governor Charlie Baker’s refusal (so far) to implement a statewide mask mandate. In the second half of the show, Deehan, Kadzis, and Wintersmith identify the stories they’ll be watching most closely as 2022 begins. -
Who's Afraid Of Rachael Rollins?
Most of President Biden’s nominees had a much easier path to confirmation than Rachael Rollins, the Suffolk DA-turned-US Attorney for Massachusetts. So what is it about Rollins and her approach that gets Republicans so riled up? How will Rollins’ MO shift in her new role? And as Governor Baker gets ready to pick her replacement, what considerations are top of mind? Adam Reilly unpacks it all with GBH News’s Callie Crossley and Phillip Martin, who also size up the possibility of former state Senator Dianne Wilkerson running for her old seat. Afterward, Elijah Zeh of the Massachusetts Association of College Republicans and Ted Park of the College Democrats of Massachusetts weigh in on a new poll from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government that shows deep despair among members of Gen Z about the future of American democracy.
