Baker, Coakley win party primaries in gubernatorial race; Healey delivers AG race upset
Martha Coakley and Charlie Baker, both victorious in their primary contests Tuesday night, fired the opening salvoes of the general election campaign for governor as both seek redemption from 2010 losses that follow them into this campaign.
Coakley, the state attorney general, defeated Treasurer Steven Grossman and former Obama health official Don Berwick, but by a much narrower margin than pre-primary polls suggested. Coakley advisors cited the low turnout Tuesday as part of the reason for the tighter contest with Grossman.
Coakley faces Baker, the GOP's nominee for governor four years ago, as she tries to bury her U.S. Senate loss to Scott Brown in the past and become the first elected female governor of Massachusetts. Baker is hoping to redeem his own 2010 loss to Gov. Deval Patrick at a time when the economic conditions seemed ripe for a Republican.
Three independents - venture capitalist John McCormick, businessman Evan Falchuk and conservative activist Scott Lively - are also running.
"You have sent a powerful message. The insiders, the big money, the super PACs. They are not going to decide this election. This election will be decided by hard working men and women and their families who just want a fair shot," Coakley told supporters gathered at the Fairmont Copley hotel holding signs that read, "Equality," "Fairness," and "Opportunity."
Coakley struck a tone of economic populism, promising to spread economic growth to all regions of the Commonwealth with her 10-year, $500 million plan, and promised to deliver as governor on universal pre-kindergarten. She also promised to improve access and reduce the stigma around mental and behavioral health.
Baker trounced his Republican primary rival Tuesday, winning his second gubernatorial nomination in four years and saying he would run a "positive" campaign on his proposals, while predicting his Democratic opponents would have to resort to negativity.
"It is us who have new ideas and specific plans to make Massachusetts great," Baker told his crowd of supporters at a restaurant in Dorchester Tuesday night. "Our opponents are stuck in the past."
Baker laid out an agenda to create jobs, "clean up welfare once and for all," reduce the tax burden and reform state hiring processes.
The former chief of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care and a Cabinet official in the Weld and Cellucci administrations, Baker won easily over Mark Fisher, a Shrewsbury manufacturer who aligned with the Tea Party and said Baker was too similar to Democrats.
Coakley will be paired up on a ticket with Stephen Kerrigan, a former Edward Kennedy aide from Lancaster who headed the 2012 Democratic National Convention for President Barack Obama. Kerrigan defeated Cambridge City Councilor Leland Cheung and Mike Lake, of Boston, in the primary for lieutenant governor.
The Coakley-Kerrigan ticket will take on Baker and former state representative Karyn Polito in November. Polito was unopposed on Tuesday.
Coakley enters the general election contest at a financial deficit to the Baker-Polito campaign, and she immediately called on Baker to sign a People's Pledge to limit outside money in the race. Her advisors say she has already withered an onslaught of $2.5 million in negative ads funded by the National Governors Association, her Democratic opponents and a pro-Grossman super PAC.
Coakley, Grossman and Berwick plan to gather Wednesday morning for a unity breakfast to show a unified front in the governor's race, but Tuesday provided a preview of how Democrats plan to attack Baker.
Patrick, who introduced Coakley at her victory party, knocked Baker for flip flopping on climate change and Cape Wind, while Coakley criticized Baker's opposition to a ballot question that would guarantee workers earned sick time.
"We're at a 25 year high in employment in the Commonwealth. Of course there is more to do. But we are on the right path," Patrick said, offering both a defense of his tenure and argument for electing Coakley.
Patrick said Republicans have "no vision, no plan and no leadership," while Coakley blasted Baker's "superficial transformation" and was hoping voters won't remember that he ran as a "Tea Party conservative" in 2010.
"Between 2010 and today their candidate has occupied every position on every issue," Patrick said.
With more than 96 percent of precincts reporting, Coakley had 42 percent of the vote to Grossman's 36.5 percent and Berwick's 21 percent. Bakr prevailed with 74 percent of the vote, to Fisher's 25 percent.
When he launched his campaign about a year ago, Baker said he would aim to be more like himself than he was in 2010 challenging Patrick, and after rallying his supporters he said he would avoid negativity.
"We're going to stick to our positive message," said Baker, who was not without criticism for Democrats.
He told the crowd, "The other side and their special interest friends are going to stop at nothing to hold onto their power and protect the status quo. Their negative, misleading and false attacks have already begun, and believe me they are only going to get worse. It's where people go when their vision is weak and their message is flat."
The last Republican to win statewide office in a November election was Mitt Romney, who claimed the governorship in 2002 after 12 years of Republicans in the top executive office. Scott Brown, who was victorious in a U.S. Senate primary in New Hampshire Tuesday, won a special election for U.S. Senate in Massachusetts in 2010.
Democrats, including Patrick on Tuesday, have tied Baker to the excesses and voluminous cost of the Big Dig, whose 1990s controversies are now four more years removed from the public consciousness.
A former selectman, Baker fell short in his 2010 bid for the office and told reporters Tuesday that, "I'm a guy who's done this once before . . . hopefully you learn a few things," while noting this time he is running for an open seat. Patrick, who forcefully backed Coakley on Tuesday night, opted against running for a third term.
Former treasurer calls Healey win ‘stunning’
Meanwhile, Maura Healey and Deb Goldberg won competitive statewide Democratic primaries for attorney general and state treasurer, respectively.
Healey, of Boston, a former pro basketball player in Europe and assistant attorney general who served under Coakley, emerged from nowhere to trounce former state Sen. Warren Tolman of Watertown, whose candidacy was backed by Gov. Deval Patrick and Boston Mayor Martin Walsh. Republican John Miller of Winchester was uncontested in his primary.
"I knew we were underdogs facing some tough odds," said Healey, who said that while she was new to campaigning she relied on her familiarity with the attorney general's office.
"The attorney general is the people's lawyer and the people's lawyer fights for all of us," Healey said in her acceptance speech, pledging to "end gun violence in our neighborhoods" and to fight for women's access to health care and against predatory lending.
Before the polls closed, Miller said he was "eager" to debate the winner of the Democratic contest and said the general election would have a "different atmosphere." Knocking the series of Democratic attorneys general who have sought the Corner Office in recent cycles, Miller said, "To me AG doesn't stand for aspiring governor."
Tolman pledged his support for Healey in the general election cycle.
"This is a stunning victory," former state Treasurer Shannon O'Brien, a Tolman supporter, said while providing commentary on NECN.
John Walsh, the former head of the Democratic Party who now runs Gov. Patrickís political committee, said Healey's victory was not a defeat for Patrick's political clout.
"No. This is all about Maura Healey. What a remarkable candidate, and everyone including Warren Tolman acknowledges that. Her capacity to deliver on the ground today makes our ticket stronger," Walsh said.
Goldberg, a former Brookline selectwoman who runs an adoption agency, dispatched Sen. Barry Finegold of North Andover and Rep. Thomas Conroy of Wayland. Michael Heffernan, a Republican from Wellesley was unopposed in his primary and moves on to face Goldberg.
"To her credit, a lot of the undecided voters went away," Finegold told the News Service after conceding the race shortly after 10 p.m. "I honestly say, I think we did everything we could. That's why I'm smiling. I look back at the campaign, and I am just very proud of the campaign we ran."
Finegold told his supporters he had a great time running a statewide race, and said later he is not sure if the loss ends his political career. Finegold, an attorney, served in the House of Representatives for 14 years before he was elected to the Senate in 2011.
"I'm blessed for the time I served. I'm blessed to have the different things in my life that I do," he said. "Ì really don't know where the future is going to go. I am very, very proud of what did here over the last couple of months, and I'm very proud of what I've done for the public."
Image source: Freedigitalphotos.net
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