Photo: Getty Images
BOSTON (State House News Service) — There are 36 governor's races going on around the country this fall and as chairman of the Democratic Governors Association, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper leads the party's effort to ensure that Democrats win as many of those seats as possible.
But while there are heavyweight fights being waged for control of the corner offices in states like Georgia, Arizona and Wisconsin, the potential for Democrats to paint Massachusetts's governor's office blue after eight years of Republican leadership was an afterthought Wednesday as Cooper previewed the upcoming elections.
His party's candidate, Maura Healey, has led in all public polling on the race but flipping the Bay State didn't come up until almost 25 minutes into a 30-minute webinar Cooper did Wednesday with Pluribus News.
After talking in detail about the party's efforts to take control of the governorships of Texas and Georgia, Cooper added, "These are two great potential pickup opportunities for us as well as in Maryland and Massachusetts with Wes Moore and Maura Healey, respectively." That was the extent of the talk of the Bay State election, in which Healey could become just the third Democrat elected governor here in the last 40 years.
The Massachusetts race didn't register a few days later when Pluribus News spoke with Republican Governors Association Chair Doug Ducey, the governor of Arizona. The only time Massachusetts came up during that 30-minute event was when Reid Wilson, founder and editor-in-chief of Pluribus News, pointed out that it seemed like many "more traditional business style Republicans" like Baker, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan and Ducey himself have recently opted against staying in office or pursuing U.S. Senate seats.
"Charlie Baker had and completed two successful terms as a governor and Gov. Hogan did the same. You may see Gov. Hogan running for another office in the near future, that's been speculated. I wouldn't say that they're getting out of politics. They have run their courses, two-term governors, and they don't know exactly what's next at this time," Ducey said.
Written by Colin A. Young
Follow WBZ NewsRadio: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | iHeartmedia App