With help from Anne Brandes
LET THE GAMES BEGIN — State Attorney General Maura Healey is finally in the governor’s race, setting the long-frozen Democratic primary on fire and creating a cascading effect down the ballot.
Healey’s entrance means her Democratic rivals, state Sen. Sonia Chang-Díaz and Harvard political theorist Danielle Allen, can get more oxygen to debate the issues — climate resiliency, racial justice, education and economic equality — that they’ve been talking about for months, to little fanfare, with the press more focused on Healey’s will-she-or-won’t-she.
Healey touched on all those in her launch video. But her main pitch is that she’s the person to lead the state’s economic recovery from the pandemic — a focus that doubles as an early play for the business community that was dealt a blow when GOP Gov. Charlie Baker said he wouldn’t seek reelection.
“We’ll get our economy back on track and bring job training to every part of our state so that everyone can share in our growth,” Healey said in the video posted this morning. “We’ll make childcare more affordable so that every family can have the flexibility and support they need, and we’ll modernize our schools.”
Healey starts as the frontrunner with major advantages in both fundraising and name recognition. The two-term AG is the only Democrat who’s campaigned statewide before and the only candidate in the larger field who’s won a statewide race, though she’ll have to beat the state’s so-called attorney-general curse to win this one.
She could also get the establishment treatment from her Democratic rivals and GOP former state Rep. Geoff Diehl, all of whom are already messaging against the status quo on Beacon Hill (though Chang-Díaz has been in elected office longer than Healey). Democratic primary voters here have rewarded underdog and anti-establishment candidates in recent years, so look to see if Allen and Chang-Díaz play into the dynamic.
Healey’s bid likely puts a pin in Labor Secretary Marty Walsh’s potential gubernatorial ambitions; people close to the former Boston mayor have repeatedly said he was unlikely to enter the fray if Healey did.
But it opens up another statewide seat. Labor attorney Shannon Liss-Riordan and Quentin Palfrey, the 2018 Democratic lieutenant governor nominee, are both expected to launch campaigns for attorney general in the coming days. Palfrey effectively confirmed his intentions in a statement saying, “as your attorney general, I will serve as the ‘people’s lawyer’ fighting for social justice and racial equality.”
Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan hasn’t ruled out a run for AG, according to her campaign spokesperson. If Ryan jumps in, it would create the fourth open DA seat this cycle.
GOOD THURSDAY MORNING, MASSACHUSETTS. If you had basketball, the people’s lawyer and the Sacklers on your Healey launch-video bingo card, congratulations, you win!
TODAY — Healey makes a campaign stop in East Boston's Maverick Square at 9 a.m. Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito attends the MPTC’s new police bridge academy opening in Southbridge at 2:30 p.m. Boston Mayor Michelle Wu makes affordable housing announcements at 10:15 a.m. in Jamaica Plain and attends the Boston police commissioner search committee’s first virtual public engagement session at 6 p.m. Sen. Ed Markey and Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) hold a press conference on new legislation to expand LIHEAP at 10:30 a.m.; Markey then holds local roundtables on the bill. State Sen. Jo Comerford and state Rep. Chynah Tyler speak at the “#NoNewWomensPrison Virtual Forum” at 7 p.m.
Running for something? Know someone who is? Email me: lkashinsky@politico.com.
 | THE LATEST NUMBERS |
— “Massachusetts reports 14,647 new coronavirus cases, continuing downward trend as omicron slows,” by Rick Sobey, Boston Herald: “The state Department of Public Health on Wednesday reported 14,647 daily coronavirus cases, which was a 34 percent drop from last Wednesday’s tally of 22,184 infections. The previous Wednesday was the state’s record high daily count of 27,612 cases.”
| DATELINE BEACON HILL |
ARRIVALS AND DEPARTURES — Boston City Councilor Lydia Edwards will be sworn in to the state Senate at noon today. She’ll become the first woman and first person of color to represent the First Suffolk and Middlesex, and joins a chamber with just two other members of color, Chang-Díaz and state Sen. Adam Gomez.
As the Senate returns to full force, the House is now down a member: Claire Cronin stepped down as majority leader and was sworn in as U.S. ambassador to Ireland in an emotional House ceremony yesterday that Cronin called “bittersweet.”
“I’m leaving a place I love and a job I love for a chance to serve our country,” Cronin, a five-term state representative and bundler for Joe Biden’s presidential campaign, said in a floor speech. “I’m looking forward to serving in Ireland and building upon the strong bonds that exist between our two countries.”
The House could soon be down two more members: State Rep. Maria Robinson (D-Framingham) finally has a U.S. Senate confirmation hearing set — Feb. 3 — for her nomination as assistant secretary in the Energy Department’s Office of Electricity.
Gov. Charlie Baker has tapped state Rep. Sheila Harrington (R-Groton) to serve as clerk magistrate of Gardner District Court. The Governor’s Council will take up her nomination on Feb. 9, per the State House News Service. It’s not clear if or when the House will call special elections to replace any of the reps.
— ON TO THE SENATE: The House unanimously passed a $55 million spending bill that includes money for expanding Covid-19 testing, getting high-quality masks to schools and boosting child vaccination rates. The Senate is expected to take it up next week.
— “New bill proposes civilian oversight for Massachusetts prisons,” by Mark Arsenault, Boston Globe: “Amid two federal lawsuits alleging excessive force by Massachusetts prison officials, a leading critic of the Department of Correction has filed a bill to establish independent civilian oversight of the state’s prisons and jails, bringing outside accountability to some of the least transparent parts of government.”
— “Amid growing criticism, Baker says he feels ‘pain’ of Harmony Montgomery’s disappearance,” by Elizabeth Koh, Laura Crimaldi and Travis Andersen, Boston Globe: “Amid a groundswell of criticism, Governor Charlie Baker said Wednesday that he feels a ‘tremendous amount of pain’ around the disappearance of Harmony Montgomery, but urged patience with the state’s ongoing review of its handling of the missing 7-year-old’s custody case.”
— “Mass General Brigham backs extra tax on some real estate transactions to fund affordable housing,” by Anissa Gardizy, Boston Globe: “Mass General Brigham, the state’s largest private employer, put its support behind affordable housing legislation, blaming the housing crisis for contributing to public health disparities in communities and staffing shortages at its hospitals.”
| VAX-ACHUSETTS |
— "Baker expands test-and-stay to early childhood centers," by Shira Schoenberg, CommonWealth Magazine: "Gov. Charlie Baker announced Wednesday that he is expanding the state’s test-and-stay program to early childhood centers, so that children exposed to COVID at daycare do not have to quarantine."
— “How’s the COVID-19 rapid test distribution going in Massachusetts towns and cities?” by Sarah Betancourt, GBH News: “Across Massachusetts, local boards of health are scrambling to obtain enough rapid test kits to meet residents’ demand.”
— “Two School Committee members face recall election over vax mandate in Belchertown,” by Scott Merzbach, Daily Hampshire Gazette: “Two incumbent School Committee members who supported a COVID-19 vaccine requirement for students participating in sports and extracurricular activities last fall are facing a recall election Monday.”
| FROM THE HUB |
— “Boston begins working through hundreds of coronavirus mandate exemption requests,” by Sean Philip Cotter, Boston Herald: “Mayor Michelle Wu’s administration has begun to work its way through 600 religious and medical exemptions for the city worker coronavirus vaccine mandate, granting or rejecting them ahead of the start of enforcement next week. A union source confirmed that the city has begun to mete out judgment on teachers’ requests for exemptions to the mandate — sending members significant numbers of denials, particularly among the religious exemptions.”
— “‘A moment of reckoning’: Two more Boston Starbucks locations move to unionize,” by Tori Bedford, GBH News: “Employees at Starbucks locations in Cleveland Circle and Lower Allston began steps to form a union, joining two other Boston-area locations in a growing labor movement of cafe workers across the Greater Boston area.”
— “Boston rejects changing Charlestown High to an ‘innovation and inclusion’ school,” by Marie Szaniszlo, Boston Herald: “Boston Public Schools leaders unanimously rejected a proposal to close Charlestown High School and convert it into an ‘innovation and inclusion school.’”
| ON THE STUMP |
— “State Rep. Linda Dean Campbell will not seek reelection,” by Mike LaBella, Eagle-Tribune: “State Rep. Linda Dean Campbell has announced she will not seek reelection to the 15th Essex District, which currently includes most of Methuen and the Bradford, Ward Hill section of Haverhill. Her decision, coupled with redistricting, could trigger a scramble for the legislative seat she has held since 2007."
— GETTING IN: Ryan Hamilton, an aide to Methuen Mayor Neil Perry and a former city councilor and Rep. Lori Trahan congressional staffer, tells Playbook he intends to run for Campbell’s seat.
| BALLOT BATTLES |
— “A dozen Mass. voters sue to knock Uber driver question off 2022 ballot,” by Lucia Maffei, Boston Business Journal: “A group of Massachusetts voters is suing the state's attorney general and secretary of state seeking to prevent a question regarding benefits for Uber and Lyft drivers from landing on the ballot in November. … Conor Yunits, a spokesperson of the campaign Flexibility and Benefits for Massachusetts Drivers, called the complaint a ‘desperate attempt’ to keep the questions off the ballot.”
JOIN NEXT FRIDAY TO HEAR FROM GOVERNORS ACROSS AMERICA : As we head into the third year of the pandemic, state governors are taking varying approaches to public health measures including vaccine and mask mandates. "The Fifty: America's Governors" is a series of live conversations featuring various governors on the unique challenges they face as they take the lead and command the national spotlight in historic ways. Learn what is working and what is not from the governors on the front lines, REGISTER HERE.
| PLANES, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES |
— “TSA reports a jump in gun detections at New England airports last year, 18 loaded firearms at Boston Logan,” by Rick Sobey, Boston Herald: “Gun detections jumped at New England airports last year as TSA officers found 40 firearms at the seven airports, including 18 loaded guns at Boston Logan International Airport.”
| DAY IN COURT |
— “$200M lawsuit over ‘Whitey’ Bulger’s gory prison murder thrown out,” by Joe Dwinell, Boston Herald: “The family of murdered Southie mobster James ‘Whitey’ Bulger won’t be able to collect a dime on a $200 million lawsuit filed against federal prison bosses, a judge ruled.”
| MARKEYCHUSETTS |
— “Sen. Ed Markey urges COVID test manufacturers, retailers and feds to keep prices down,” by Benjamin Kail, MassLive: “Sen. Ed Markey is pressing COVID-19 test manufacturers and retailers for answers on pricing, as Americans typically shell out at least $10 for the high-demand rapid at-home antigen tests that sometimes cost only $2 to make.”
| DATELINE D.C. |
— “Senate Dems’ filibuster ambitions fall short,” by Marianne LeVine and Burgess Everett, POLITICO: “Senate Democrats failed in a Wednesday night bid to weaken the filibuster to pass elections and voting reform thanks to opposition from centrists Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema.”
“The people won’t forget and this fight is not over,” Rep. Ayanna Pressley tweeted as other members of the Massachusetts delegation similarly vowed they would battle on. Former Massachusetts governor and current GOP Sen. Mitt Romney, however, called it a “good and historic night.”
— “Dr. Rochelle Walensky defends her CDC tenure: ‘We’re making decisions in imperfect times’,” by Jess Bidgood, Boston Globe: “Dr. Rochelle Walensky forcefully defended her bumpy CDC tenure in a Globe interview this week, describing her critics as ‘naysayers’ who have helped sow the public confusion she is widely seen as fueling and pointing out that many Americans are still not following her agency’s most basic guidance.”
— “House votes to award former Bruin Willie O’Ree the Congressional Gold Medal,” by Haley Fuller, Boston Globe: “A day after Willie O’Ree’s No. 22 was retired by the Bruins and raised to the rafters of TD Garden, the House of Representatives voted unanimously Wednesday to present him with another honor — the Congressional Gold Medal.”
| IT'S NOT EASY BEING GREEN |
— “All around Massachusetts, cities and towns want to go fossil fuel free. Here’s why they can’t,” by Sabrina Shankman, Boston Globe: “The state’s new climate legislation aimed to do just that, and required the state to come up with a new building code that would allow cities and towns to move ahead. The Baker administration promised a draft by fall 2021 but failed to deliver. And now some climate-concerned legislators want the administration to answer for it.”
— “Oil powering a big chunk of power grid,” by Bruce Mohl, CommonWealth Magazine: “In January last year, oil accounted for just 0.2 percent of the fuel mix used to generate power across [New England]. This month, starting around January 7, oil began accounting for 20 to 25 percent of power generation, behind only natural gas and nuclear. Coal even popped up in the fuel mix, at about 3 percent. The higher use of oil and coal means greater carbon emissions across the region and underscores how far the region has to go to trim and eventually eliminate its use of fossil fuels in electricity production.”
STEP INSIDE THE WEST WING: What's really happening in West Wing offices? Find out who's up, who's down, and who really has the president’s ear in our West Wing Playbook newsletter, the insider's guide to the Biden White House and Cabinet. For buzzy nuggets and details that you won't find anywhere else, subscribe today.
| FROM THE 413 |
— “With help from the Justice Department, Williamstown Police aim to rebuild a bond with the community,” by Scott Stafford, Berkshire Eagle: “At the request of Interim Police Chief Michael Ziemba, the U.S. Department of Justice is working with local community members to organize a community-wide meeting to discuss the police department’s successes and failures — and how to correct what needs fixing.”
| THE LOCAL ANGLE |
— “Homeless people are coming to Worcester for help but the city would like other communities to do more,” by Michael Bonner, MassLive: “[Worcester Inspectional Services Department’s Dan] Cahill said surrounding communities ‘quite frequently’ drop off individuals experiencing homelessness in Worcester mainly because the city will care for them.”
— “School superintendent accuses Everett mayor of having a racist agenda,” by Stephanie Leydon, GBH News: “At Everett’s school committee meeting on Tuesday, Michael McLaughlin insisted that when he filed a motion to strip the city’s first school superintendent of color from her role as secretary of the school committee, it wasn’t a bid to curtail the superintendent’s power. McLaughlin, a former city councilor and newly elected school committee member, said he was only trying to help. … One day earlier [School Superintendent Priya Tahiliani] had filed a 31-page complaint with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination accusing McLaughlin of being ‘a crony’ to Everett Mayor Carlo DeMaria in an effort to push her out of her job.”
— “Landlords say no, but Worcester City Council considers local eviction moratorium,” by Steven H. Foskett Jr., Telegram & Gazette: “Housing advocates and landlords speaking at the City Council Tuesday came down on both sides of the prospect of an eviction and foreclosure moratorium in the city amid surging COVID-19 case numbers.”
TRANSITIONS — Seble L. Alemu is now researcher for the Joint Committee on Racial Equity, Civil Rights, and Inclusion. Boston Business Journal senior reporter Greg Ryan is moving to the real estate and development beat.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY — to NPR and WBUR’s Serena McMahon, and Liam O’Connor.
NEW HORSE RACE ALERT: TEST STRESSING — MassLive’s Alison Kuznitz joins hosts Jennifer Smith and Steve Koczela to talk about the state’s new Covid rapid-test program for schools. Smith, Koczela and host Lisa Kashinsky break down the latest on vaccine passports and vaccination mandates. Subscribe and listen on iTunes and Sound Cloud.
Want to make an impact? POLITICO Massachusetts has a variety of solutions available for partners looking to reach and activate the most influential people in the Bay State. Have a petition you want signed? A cause you’re promoting? Seeking to increase brand awareness among this key audience? Share your message with our influential readers to foster engagement and drive action. Contact Jesse Shapiro to find out how: jshapiro@politico.com.
Follow us on Twitter
 | Lisa Kashinsky @lisakashinsky |
Subscribe to the POLITICO Playbook family
Playbook | Playbook PM | California Playbook | Florida Playbook | Illinois Playbook | Massachusetts Playbook | New Jersey Playbook | New York Playbook | Ottawa Playbook | Brussels Playbook | London Playbook
View all our politics and policy newsletters
FOLLOW US
 |
POLITICO, LLC 1000 Wilson Blvd. Arlington, VA, 22209, USA |
