Updated November 3, 2026 at 10:45 PM EST
Massachusetts voters on Tuesday elected Gov. Maura Healey, the incumbent Democrat, to a second four-year term on Beacon Hill.
Healey, who is set to be sworn back into office in January, triumphed over Republican nominee Mike Minogue, a former medical tech executive who poured $19.5 million of his own money into his campaign, a record for a statewide candidate in Massachusetts.
The Associated Press called the race just as polls closed Tuesday.
Healey emerged victorious in a race dominated by talk of affordability and President Trump. Recent polls showed the number of residents who believe the state is heading in the wrong direction outweighed those who believed it’s on the right track. Still, the high cost of living, housing and energy were frequently cited concerns.
Healey told cheering supporters that she has an obligation “to get up every day and to drive change with urgency and action.”
“I may not get it right every time. You may disagree with some of the things I make, the decisions that I make, and you should. But I promise you this: I’m gonna work my hardest every single day for the things that matter in your lives.”
Speaking to his own supporters Tuesday night, Minogue congratulated Healey, thanked his family and praised his supporters.
“An election determines who holds the office. It does not determine what we believe in, what we stand for, and how much we care about the commonwealth,” he said, later adding, “Don’t lose your enthusiasm. Don’t lose your optimism. Don’t stop believing that Massachusetts can be better because we know it can.”
Minogue pledged to cut spending, lower taxes and roll back the state’s commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in order to bring down energy costs. Healey, meanwhile, campaigned on a first-term record that included a gas tax cut and efforts to ease the housing crunch.
The race also became defined by Healey’s nonstop anti-Trump talk. She sought to link Minogue, who donated nearly $1 million to Trump and other national Republicans in recent years — to the president, who is deeply unpopular in Massachusetts.
Healey won her first gubernatorial term in 2022, taking back the governor’s office for Democrats in one of the country’s bluest states after eight years of Republican Gov. Charlie Baker. She beat GOP nominee Geoff Diehl with 63.5% of the vote.
The 55-year-old Arlington resident became Massachusetts’ first elected female governor and the country’s first openly lesbian governor, just hours ahead of Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek, who was also elected in 2022.
A civil rights lawyer who worked in the state attorney general’s office, Healey went on to head that office after winning the seat in 2014. She served for eight years as the state’s top law enforcement official before her run for governor.
Healey will remain in the governor’s office with her running mate, Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll, the former Salem mayor who joined the Democratic ticket in 2022.
The final weeks of the campaign were marred by Minogue’s running mate, New Bedford City Councilor Shawn Oliver, who suspended his campaign for lieutenant governor after his arrest for allegedly drunk driving. Minogue said Oliver would not serve as his lieutenant governor if the GOP ticket won, pledging the position would stay vacant through his first term as governor.
This article was originally published on WBUR.org.
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