Maura Healey shells out $21,000 on polling as she shrugs off rumors of governor
Attorney General Maura Healey continued to play coy when it came to questions about her gubernatorial aspirations this week even as her campaign shelled out nearly $21,000 for polling.
“What Healey has been done as attorney general is set herself up to run for governor, it’s the logical next step for her,” said Daniel Mulcare, chairman of Salem State University’s political science department. “The only thing that might prevent her is if Gov. Baker runs.”
That’s where Mulcare said polling comes in.
Beacon Research forked over $20,837 of Healey campaign cash on April 22 to four separate subcontractors for various polling activities including coding and tabulation, texting software platform, phone interviewing and voter sample files, according to state campaign finance data.
Vendors paid more than $5,000 in campaign cash are required to report subcontractor expenses over $500, according to state campaign finance law.
The two-term attorney general has a history of contracting with Beacon Research pollster Chris Anderson. She paid the firm $26,000 in March 2020 and again last July for “polling,” according to state campaign finance data.
A spokesman for Healey’s campaign declined to comment on Thursday and shrugged off rumors that the AG might be considering a play for the Corner Officer.
But Mulcare said all signs point to a Healey campaign. The popular Democratic attorney general has been barnstorming the state as her fundraising efforts have heated up in recent months.
Healy’s March fundraising haul — at $102,762 in March — was her second-highest since October 2018 just before her re-election to the state’s top law enforcement job.
Mulcare said the “widely popular” Baker will be stiff competition — even for the likable attorney general. But he said Healey would be the first “heavy hitter” Democrat he’s faced since first running for office in 2014.
The Teflon gov hasn’t yet said if he’ll seek a third term, but he hinted it could be in the cards during a March appearance on WBUR’s “Morning Edition.”
“Many things have happened in the last year that could have really hurt him and didn’t: his handling of the pandemic and vaccines, the outbreak at the veterans home in Holyoke, the police scandal. All of that — you would have thought — would have allowed an opponent to come in and really hammer him,” Mulcare said. “That simply hasn’t happened.”
With the 2022 statewide election still 19 months away, Mulcare admitted much of the speculation is just “tea leaf reading” at this point.
Should Healey decide to take the plunge, she’ll be up against former state Sen. Ben Downing, and potentially Harvard professor Danielle Allen, Quincy resident Scott Khourie and Shrewsbury’s Orlando Silva on the Democrat side. Sen. Sonia Chang-Diaz, a Boston Democrat, is also rumored to be considering a run.
Should Baker choose to bow out, Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito is poised to take the reins and has more than $2 million stashed in her campaign account. Former state Rep. Geoff Diehl is expected to make a run for the Republican nomination and Lowell’s Darius Mitchell is also exploring a run on the Republican ticket.
Carlos Perez on the Libertarian ticket has also filed for candidacy, according to state records.
from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/3t0l76J
Post a Comment