Is Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey thinking about a run for president?
Is Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey thinking about running for president in 2028?
Healey, who says she's running for a second term as governor next year, has been making the rounds of national TV talk shows lately, including "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" on CBS.
In that broadcast, she was critical of President Trump, saying he was "giving away intellectual assets" by cutting off federal funding to universities and the National Institutes of Health.
"Her team will say, these people are asking us to go on and we just say 'yes,'" said Kelly Garrity of Politico Massachusetts on Sunday's "Keller at Large" on WBZ-TV.
"There was a lot of news about Harvard, based in Massachusetts obviously, so that definitely brought her on to the national stage more. There's definitely been a lot more of her in the national spotlight with Trump back, after an early period where she was being a little less critical of him, she's kind of back to her old attorney general days of really using him as a foil," Garrity said.
"I think that helps her, not just for her national profile, but I think it's also going to be really useful for her in the 2026 race. Trump is not popular here, and so it's kind of a good way to sort of campaign while rising above some of the local issues that have actually been sort of a burden for her in her early years."
Massachusetts has a long recent history of presidential candidates from Michael Dukakis to Paul Tsongas, John Kerry, Mitt Romney, Deval Patrick and Senator Elizabeth Warren.
"I think what we've seen over the last couple of presidential cycles is even if you lose the presidential race, you're still kind of winning in some case if you get a cabinet position out of it or you become part of the DC firmament," said CommonWealth Beacon political reporter Gin Dumcius.
"If she does end up running for president, is she running to win or is she running for another position in that orbit?"
Garrity and Dumcius joined Keller in a roundtable discussion of current political issues in Massachusetts, including the Boston mayor's race between incumbent Michelle Wu and philanthropist Josh Kraft.
Boston mayor's race more "campfire" than "barn burner"
"Right now, it's more of a campfire than a barn burner," Dumcius said of the race.
He said there is significant behind-the-scenes action in the race involving super PACs, fundraising groups that have been playing an increasingly important role in political campaigns.
"What I think all of us are kind of looking for is when the big money comes," said Dumcius. "We're looking for the super PACs to really get involved on both sides, with the unions expected to come in big for Wu."
Garrity noted there may be additional candidates on the ballot once the deadline for nomination signatures has passed.
"There's still plenty of time for that," she said.
Ed Markey's future
The guests also discussed recent buzz in Democratic circles about the future of Massachusetts Sen. Ed Markey, up for re-election next year as he turns 80 amid a period of pressure on senior party figures to give way to younger leaders.
"If you ask Democrats if they think Ed Markey should run again, they'll tell you no. If you ask them to say that publicly, they [won't]," said Dumcius. "I think there's definitely a sense of folks who're saying... he shouldn't run again, but nobody wants to say it out loud, at least not yet."
"I think age is just going to be something that keeps coming up for him. He has tons of energy, and he's been going everywhere to all these protests, doing lots of events in the state, so he's definitely trying to get ahead of that, but... you don't age backwards. So it's not gonna stop being a question. I think the real question is whether somebody actually does decide to run against him," Garrity said.
The panelists also discussed potential Democratic and Republican challengers to Markey during the discussion, which you can watch in the video above.
Keller at Large airs every Sunday at 8:30 a.m. on WBZ-TV.
