Outgoing Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley has accepted a spring fellowship at Harvard University’s Institute of Politics.
Coakley gives up her office next week to Maura Healey. The attorney general narrowly lost the governor’s race to Republican Charlie Baker in November. At Harvard, she says she’ll lead a weekly discussion group with undergraduates about politics and the media.
Click the audio player above to hear Coakley’s interview with New England Public Radio’s Sarah Birnbaum.
Four years after coming up short in his quest for the top statewide office in Massachusetts, Republican Charlie Baker declared victory early Wednesday morning in his race for governor, though Democrat Martha Coakley had not yet conceded the race.
The pendulum swung back and forth throughout the night Tuesday as votes trickled in from around the state and Baker and Coakley traded leads in a race that remained too tight to call until the early Wednesday.
“It’s been a long, long ride. And it’s been bumpy at times. But we always knew that our vision to make this state great, improve our economy, close that achievement gap in education, bring the kind of fiscal discipline and balance to Beacon Hill and bipartisanship that so many people responded to over the course of this campaign was the right way to go,” Baker said during a subdued victory speech just before 1:30 a.m. “Tonight the voters said, ‘Yes.'”
Baker praised Coakley for running a hard fought campaign, and when a few of his supporters started booing, the apparent governor-elect scolded them from the podium. “Hey hey, no, none of that,” he said.
“We’ve been watching the results on the telly this evening, and it’s been quite a ride,” Baker told the crowd still gathered in the full ballroom at the Seaport Hotel in South Boston.
Baker said he spoke to Coakley shortly after 1 a.m. and the attorney general said she wanted to wait until the morning to see the final results. “I’m perfectly fine to give her until the morning to see the results come it,” Baker said. “That’s the way it works folks, and that’s the way it should work.”
The Coakley campaign sent its supporters home from the Fairmont Copley Hotel not long after midnight without the candidate speaking, though her campaign continued to communicate with Baker’s team.
Coakley left the Fairmont Copley Hotel at 12:50 a.m., declining to comment to a News Service reporter. Television news broadcasts showed her returning to her Medford home with her husband.
Trailing Baker and Polito by a percentage point with 92 percent of precincts reporting, Coakley’s running mate Stephen Kerrigan told the crowd just after midnight it remained an “incredibly close race,” and thanked supporters for their patience.
“There are plenty of communities out there that have yet to count every vote. And Martha and I believe, as I know all of you do, that every vote cast here in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts deserves to be counted,” Kerrigan said to cheers.
A little later in the morning, the Associated Press and other networks called the race for Baker with the Republican and his running mate Karyn Polito leading Coakley and Kerrigan by 36,370 votes, or 1.7 percentage points, with 98 percent of precincts reporting.
Thanking his supporters, Baker said, “Let’s face it, in this election every vote counted.”
With Baker standing on the precipice of the governorship, his victory would once again give the GOP Republicans a toehold on Beacon Hill after eight years of Democrats controlling both the governor’s office and both branches of the Legislature.
Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr, who picked up at least two new members to his caucus on Tuesday night, said he didn’t see a path to victory for Coakley. “He’s got to try to govern in a bipartisan way, there’s no doubt about it, and that’s why you’re seeing people vote for him,” Tarr said.
“This is pretty crazy,” House Minority Leader Brad Jones told WCVB-TV early Wednesday morning. Jones said, “I thought it would be a close race. This is Massachusetts. You’re running against the machine.”
U.S. Sen. Edward Markey, who much earlier in the night celebrated victory for his first full term to the Senate, called it a “wait-and-see game.”
“This is not going to end soon. We have to count every ballot,” Markey said.
Somerville Mayor Joseph Curtatone, a Coakley supporter, said he’d never seen anything quite like it. “We’re all waiting with great anticipation,” he said.
After eight years of solid Democratic control in the State House, Baker, 57, is poised to become the first candidate to win a race for governor after losing four years prior since former Gov. Michael Dukakis did it in 1982 to secure his second of three terms.
While Republicans were shut out of the other statewide offices, the GOP celebrated Baker’s victory Tuesday at South Boston’s Seaport Hotel as a new start for the party.
Baker, on the campaign trail, has pledged to work with Democratic leadership in the House and Senate, which itself will be under new leadership come January, while also restoring a level of balance to state government that has been one-sided since former Gov. Mitt Romney walked out of office and onto the presidential campaign trail.
“We can’t wait to make this state sing,” Baker said.
Riding a wave of outside money and projecting a more optimistic and forward thinking persona than voters saw from him in 2010, Baker was able to appeal to a wide swath of independent voters, while also picking up pockets of traditional Democratic support by campaigning in urban areas often written off by Republicans.
With the support of a super PAC nationally funded by the Republican Governors Association, the GOP outspent Democrats in the race for governor by a 9-to-1 margin in a flurry of television ads and direct mail.
Baker came up through the ranks of government as a health and human services and finance secretary under Republican Govs. Bill Weld and Paul Cellucci. He went on to run Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, rescuing the company from near bankruptcy and using his experience as CEO to pitch himself as an effective executive who can improve the efficiency of state government and rectify some of the management issues that have plagued agencies like the Department of Children and Families.
Baker has pledged not to raise taxes or fees, and put forward a slate of tax breaks for small employers to stimulate economic growth and offset minimum wage hikes that he supported.
He also proposed tax credits for businesses that hire welfare recipients and veterans as part of his promise to rigorously enforce new welfare laws designed to get people off public assistance and into the workforce.
Baker also pledged to increase local aid to cities and towns by the same growth rate as state revenues, and to raise the cap on charter schools to ensure parents have more school choices, particularly in struggling urban districts.
Coakley, who tried by came up short in her bid to exorcise the demons from her 2010 U.S. Senate loss to Scott Brown, ran a campaign focused on expanding access to pre-school education and regional economic growth strategies.
She also engaged in some of the retail politics she was criticized for eschewed in 2010, going to Gillette Stadium on the final weekend of the campaign to shake hands with tailgaters.
“She put her heart and her soul and every ounce of energy that she had into that race,” Baker said Wednesday morning.
[Gintautas Dumcius contributed reporting]
The Democratic candidate for Attorney General in Massachusetts is defending the state’s current Attorney-General and gubernatorial candidate Martha Coakley. That follows criticism of Coakley’s record on public corruption cases.
During a get-out-the-vote rally in Springfield, Maura Healey took exception to comments made by former state Inspector General Gregory Sullivan in the Boston Globe. Sullivan says Coakley’s office was not anxious to investigate former House Speaker Sal DiMasi. Moreover, Sullivan says, Coakley asked him to stop his probe of contributions made to some of DiMasi’s friends and associates by a software company pursuing lucrative state contracts. Healey, who joined Coakley’s office in 2007, calls Sullivan’s accusation untrue.
“I think that’s absolutely wrong and I think that the folks who worked with her in the office addressed that and spoke to that. That’s not what happened. Martha Coakley hasn’t been afraid to go after the biggest and the baddest actors out there on any number of fronts. That’s who Martha Coakley is,” says Healey.
Sullivan says he stands by his comments. Coakley is in a tight race against Republican Charlie Baker, who in the last couple days has won endorsements from the Globe and Springfield Republican newspapers.
Turned off Massachusetts voters who tuned out recent elections are being bombarded again by candidates and their supporters who are emptying their opposition research files, forking over campaign cash to TV stations for ads, rolling out high profile supporters and bouncing between debates and staged events all over the Commonwealth with two-plus weeks left until election day. Hillary Clinton is scheduled to stump for Coakley at Boston’s Park Plaza hotel on Friday.
Candidates long on promises and attack lines but often short on specifics are pitching for votes ahead of November. 4th elections when a new governor, lieutenant governor, treasurer and attorney general will be selected to join likely new Senate President Stan Rosenberg on Beacon Hill in January when state government leadership will undergo a major overhaul.
Voters next month will also decide whether the tiny Republican minority ranks in the Legislature will grow or shrink – only one incumbent, Democrat Wayne Matewsky, lost his seat in the primary – and settle ballot questions dealing with the gas tax, the bottle redemption law, casinos and sick time benefits for workers. Tuesday night’s one-on-one debate between candidates for governor Charlie Baker and Martha Coakley is a highlight of the week ahead, which will also feature an international health conference at the State House at a time when public attention remains focused on the U.S. Ebola outbreak. Here’s a look at the week ahead in politics and government.
For Susan Kaplan’s interview with Matt Murphy, click on the audio player above.
Locked in one of the tightest races for governor in the country, Martha Coakley called upon former President Bill Clinton on Thursday to help rally Democrats and make the case that she, and not Republican Charlie Baker, should lead Massachusetts.
Clinton, who was delayed by weather arriving at the rally at Clark University, laid out a calm, reasoned pitch for Coakley to build upon what has made Massachusetts successful, including its education system. He said there could be “no better investment” than eliminating the waiting list of 17,000 children for early education programs.
“You’ve got a model that most of this country and most of the world would die to have. Don’t mess it up,” Clinton told the estimated crowd of 800 supporters who packed into a cozy, warm auditorium to hear the former president speak.
Coakley’s campaign has called on a number of high-profile national Democrats to help her try to close a fundraising gap with Baker and energize the electorate before the Nov. 4 election. First Lady Michelle Obama came to Boston for Coakley this month, and Hillary Clinton is expected to headline a rally for Coakley next week.
The Clinton event helped Coakley bank $200,000 for her campaign, leaving the Democratic ticket of Coakley and Stephen Kerrigan, the party nominee for lieutenant governor, with about $500,000 in cash on hand for the final two-plus weeks of the campaign. The duo raised $647,524 during the first two weeks of the month.
Baker and his running mate Karyn Polito reported raising $787,000 so far in October, leaving the GOP ticket with about $1 million more than their Democratic rivals. Baker had a private fundraiser with former Gov. Mitt Romney planned Thursday night at the Lenox hotel in Boston.
Asked Thursday about Clinton’s visit, Baker said, “I hope he enjoys his time in Massachusetts. I look back on some of the work he did in conjunction with Bill Weld as being significantly positive and the fact that he’s here, he’s no stranger to Massachusetts, and I hope he has a good time while he’s here.”
Clinton repeatedly expressed his fondness for the central Massachusetts city, and said he was happy the Coakley campaign allowed him to come to Worcester, where he recalled visiting as Republicans were trying to “run me out of office” and finding 20,000 people on the streets waving signs of support.
“I don’t care what the polls say, she can win this race handily if you want it bad enough,” Clinton said, describing a political campaign as a job interview where you also get to write the job description.
He credited Coakley with fighting excessive utility rates and cyber crime, stopping Medicaid fraud and being a “relentless advocate for children and families against child abuse,” calling a super PAC ad that challenged her child protection record “clearly a lie.”
He said, “Quite simply, she has a better record than her opponent.”
Clinton also recalled his own experience as both an attorney general and governor in Arkansas, and said voters can trust that Coakley will deliver on the promises she makes on the trail because she has a record of doing what she says she will.
“In the worst time in our country’s recent history, there was no attorney general in the entire country that did as well as she did in keeping hard-working families in their homes. Thirty-thousand people in this state,” Clinton said.
Baker on Thursday criticized Coakley for failing to disclose that a non-profit run by her friend and campaign donor Elyse Cherry, who now co-chairs her finance team, stood to benefit from a lawsuit she filed against Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
While waiting for Clinton to arrive, a series of speakers warmed up the crowd, including U.S. Sen. Edward Markey, Congressman Jim McGovern, candidate for Attorney General Maura Healey, Democratic Party Chairman Sen. Thomas McGee and Gov. Deval Patrick.
Patrick said he felt “lucky” to have Coakley representing Democrats in the race for governor, citing her support for earned sick time and an expansion of early childhood education.
“It’s not about getting out to vote. It’s about getting out the vote. You gotta get someone else out of bed,” said Patrick, one of many speakers, including Clinton, who tried to drive home the importance for Democrats of getting out the vote if they want to beat Baker.
Clinton said he’s heard about how Baker is a “moderate,” before criticizing the Republican’s position in 2010 against a minimum wage hike, and his more recent opposition to a ballot question that guarantees workers at small companies sick leave benefits.
“You don’t need trickle-down economics,” he said. “You need build-out economics that give people who are poor a chance to work their way into the middle-class.”
Baker supported a more recent minimum wage hike, and has offered an alternative sick leave proposal for to address small business concerns.
Coakley introduced Clinton, first discussing her focus on early education, sick leave for workers and growing the economy in regions outside Boston.
“We can win this race if we get out this vote, because our message is clear,” she said.
Vice President Joe Biden plans to visit Boston on Oct. 29 for two separate fundraisers for Coakley and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
Describing himself as an “old racehorse” who gets invited to rallies like the one Thursday to see if he can “get around the track one more time without falling over,” Clinton acknowledged that his stature has been surpassed by his wife.
“Hillary’s coming up here in a few days and you’ll like that better,” he said.
Bill Clinton and Mitt Romney are scheduled to visit Massachusetts next week to influence politics and voting here, signifying the late stages of races as candidates look to the post-Columbus Day stretch until the November 4th elections. Romney is coming for Republican candidate for governor Charlie Baker, as well as to raise money for Massachusetts House candidates, and Clinton plans to visit to assist Martha Coakley, the attorney general who is battling Baker for the Corner Office, with three independent candidates trailing far behind in the polls.
Super PAC ads, which the leading candidates are not allowed to help orchestrate, have already played a significant role in the campaign and several more are expected to shake up the race further. Another sign that the campaigns are winding down comes next Wednesday, which is the last day for those eligible to register to vote this year
For Susan Kaplan’s conversation with Matt Murphy about the week ahead on Beacon Hill, click the audio player above.