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Gov. Kim Driscoll? The outcome of the presidential election could trigger a big shakeup in the Bay State’s political firmament
Sound like a stretch? Maybe. But if Kamala Harris wins, the state’s lieutenant governor could be in for a big promotion.
Gov. Maura Healey is likely to be on the short list of potential candidates to be the country’s next Attorney General, should Harris win a presidential election that remains very much a coin-flip as we head into the final days.
Healey has spent well more than two of her first 18 months in office out of state, campaigning for Harris and other candidates and hobnobbing with other Democratic governors, among many other events, the Globe reports.
Clearly, all that travel and politicking wasn’t just for the good of the party.
When pressed back in September as to her future plans, Healey, after some considerable hedging, said no when asked whether she would consider serving as Attorney General, in an Harris administration.
That is about as believable as the second part of her answer, “I love being governor,” which her constant out of state travel belies.
Driscoll, for her part, has built the nucleus of a potentially formidable political operation during her first two years on the job.
The former Salem mayor now has more than $715,000 in her campaign account, up from $230,000 when she took office back in 2022, state campaign finance records reviewed by Contrarian Boston show.
Her campaign is shelling out $3,000 a month to Melwood Global and another $8,000 to Hyphenated Strategies.
Headed by Katie Prisco-Buxbaum, a former campaign manager for now Attorney General Andrea Campbell, the political consulting shop specializes in progressive candidates and causes.
Driscoll has also carved out a powerful and winning issue for herself, becoming the Healey administration’s point person on its efforts to spur housing production and help lower prices and rents.
It is a role that comes naturally for Driscoll, who made headlines by pushing plans for new housing in her North Shore city in the face of entrenched NIMBY opposition.
Her campaign has also benefited, taking in thousands of dollars in contributions in September alone from affordable housing developers and construction company chiefs.
That said, there is no guarantee that Driscoll, who would become acting governor should Healey leave for Washington, would be able to win statewide election in 2026.
Just ask Jane Swift, who became acting governor after Paul Cellucci was appointed ambassador to Canada by the Bush administration. She was later muscled out by Mitt Romney.
But you say, what if Trump wins?
In that case, Healey goes nowhere and the big winner turns out to be none other than Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, who faces reelection next year amid signs of trouble for the region’s economic engine.
The city’s epic building boom has gone bust under Wu, while the collapse of office building values has triggered a looming, $1.5 billion revenue shortfall over the coming years.
But a Trump victory could give Wu and her campaign a new lease on life, especially if the Boston mayor casts herself as part of the progressive resistance, which she surely will.
An extraordinary rebuke: Former star Globe investigative reporter in no rush to return to her old job after her firing was overturned in arbitration
That would be Andrea Estes, who broke some huge stories over the years at the Globe, only to be ousted back in 2023 in the wake of a T expose gone awry.
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