AS ATTORNEY GENERAL, Maura Healey launched her office at Donald Trump when he narrowly won the White House eight years ago, vaulting to the front lines and quickly joining with her Democratic counterparts elsewhere to oppose his ban on travelers from Muslim-majority countries.
Healey struck a different tone in a different job on Wednesday, after Trump’s return to the White House was assured by a resounding Electoral College victory in which he also won the popular vote. Now the governor, Healey returned to the State House after spending much of Election Day campaigning in next-door New Hampshire for fellow Democrats, staying in the Granite State late into yesterday evening.
Healey said the overall results are still getting analyzed, but “I think last night you saw from the exit polls some of the focus and attention on the economy.”
While New Hampshire narrowly gave its four electoral votes to Kamala Harris, the Democratic gubernatorial candidate that Healey backed, Joyce Craig, lost to Republican Kelly Ayotte, whose key message was “Don’t Mass Up NH.” In Massachusetts, most municipalities shifted to the right, similar to the overall country. Cities like Lawrence, Chelsea, Everett, New Bedford and Fall River, in particular, swung toward Trump.
“My message today to everybody in Massachusetts is that we see you. We see you. Whether you voted for the president-elect or not, we see you,” she told reporters gathered in the lobby of the governor’s office. “Whether you’re feeling a lot of feelings today, and maybe scared or feeling horrible, know that we see you.”
Voters “were making a statement in part about how they were feeling in terms of their own personal welfare,” she added.
Massachusetts has benefited from a Democratic White House, as more than $8 billion in federal funds have flowed to infrastructure projects like the Cape Cod bridges. Healey also touted positive economic trends, while acknowledging the hit to wallets from post-pandemic inflation. “It’s taking time for people to see that in their own checkbooks,” she said. “That’s part of the communication challenge.”
Asked if she should have spent more time in Massachusetts, given that Craig lost, and Bay State voters backed Question 2, a measure opposed by Healey that severs passage of the MCAS test from high school graduation, Healey defended her focus, saying it’s “always a close election in my home state of New Hampshire,” where she grew up and her parents still live.
As for the MCAS ballot question, though she held a press briefing last month at Roxbury nonprofit to urge a “no” vote on the measure, Healey seemed to downplay any suggestion that she could have done more to influence the outcome, saying, “I recognize I’m just one vote.”
The anti-Trump banner Healey carried as AG between 2017 and 2020 will now be picked up by her successor, Andrea Campbell, who won the seat in 2022. In a separate press conference, Campbell told reporters her office is prepared for various scenarios as the Trump administration moves back into the White House. “Obviously, this office has been here before,” she said, referring to Trump’s first term.
Back at the State House, Healey said “we are not taking our foot off the pedal at all” on climate technology, as she pushes for an offshore wind industry investment fund, coupled with tax credits, in an economic development bill top lawmakers have pledged to get to her desk before the end of session.
And as abortion rights could face new restrictions at the federal level, she said, “we’ll make sure women and those who need care are protected here in Massachusetts.”
Referencing some of Trump’s more incendiary stands and the hard-right Project 2025 playbook that he disavowed, but which many in his orbit were involved with crafting, Healey said we’ll have to wait to see whether he follows all his attention-grabbing words with actions. “I think I’ve spoken quite a bit about Donald Trump and my feelings about him,” Healey said. “We have to see whether he makes good on what he promised and ran on.”
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