Candidates for governor go tit for tat as Election Day nears

Maybe the guy who yelled "Booooooo!" at Gov. Maura Healey in Fall River this week was just getting in the Halloween spirit.

Healey and Mike Minogue were running against the clock this week, making a final scramble around the state as tens of thousands of voters cast their ballots each day. Early voting was on pace to exceed 1 million votes Friday with turnout near 20% -- four days before the elections end.

The Republican nominee found a well of support in Boston's North End, where he leaned into his Catholic faith as common ground with many in the historically Italian neighborhood. He did all the things you'd expect of a candidate a week out from an election -- grab an espresso at Caffe Vittoria after downing a pistachio-chocolate gelato swirl, sit and chat with restaurateur Frank DePasquale, shake hands with everyone from a firefighter to a lady named Dolly, and urge people to vote no matter what polling said.

"We're not down. It is close. It's neck and neck," Minogue, a first-time political candidate from Hamilton, told reporters outside Saint Leonard of Port Maurice Parish on Hanover Street on Wednesday. "We are close. Everyone knows it. It's all about who wants it more, who's going to come out and vote. Our people have enthusiasm."

One North End supporter showed her enthusiasm for Minogue's underdog effort with a gift -- a bottle of St. Anthony's oil, meant to invoke Saint Anthony of Padua, the patron saint of lost things, miracles and the poor.

Around the same time, Healey was down in Attleboro talking to a room of senior citizens about home heating oil assistance -- and all kinds of other things, including a riff on why her office had to change the name of the former Office of Elder Affairs. ("Isn't that a weird name? I mean, think about it. The Office of Elder Affairs?" she said while a couple of the 30 seniors went right on with their knitting.)

Wednesday's senior center visit was technically not a campaign event for the incumbent Democrat. But the winter heating affordability session shared similarities with the stump speech Healey gave just down the street at the Attleboro Public Library back in March, just as she was ramping her campaign apparatus up for the reelection push.

The basic outline of Healey's speech barely changed since she spoke at the city's Democratic caucus: affordability was the frame, giving the governor openings to talk about housing production and healthcare actions. In March and October, the governor hit on the 220,000-unit housing shortage, accessory dwelling units by-right, faster permitting times, a first-time homebuyer program, copay and deductible caps, the end of prior authorization, and a federal-cuts-backfilled theme.

The core of her stump speech remained fairly constant seven months apart, but Healey decorated each speech differently based on her audience (a room full of politically-involved Democrats in March, an open gathering of seniors in October).

Throughout the March speech, Healey bashed President Donald "Trump and the Republicans in Congress," "RFK and Trump," "MAGA donors," and the Republican field forming to challenge her. Her remarks in Attleboro on Wednesday had no mention of Trump, Republicans or MAGA. She referred to "the president" and "this federal administration" instead. The caucus speech also included mentions of the state shield law covering reproductive and gender-affirming care, the state's own vaccine guidance issued in reaction to Trump changes and "the rule of law" -- all absent this week.

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It wasn't all subtraction though. The very first things Healey wanted the seniors to know about this week (at a home heating assistance event) was something that she didn't mention at all back in March.

"Now, I don't know if you know this, but four years ago, the first thing I did was I cut taxes," she said after a couple thank-yous and an acknowledgement that "this is a challenging time."

Minogue kept the pressure on Healey this week (and attracted some onto himself as well) with an allegation that Healey secured the endorsement of the State Police union by leveraging a recently bargained union contract. She called it "just more lies and nonsense from Mike Minogue and his campaign," but her campaign declined to put a specific denial in writing. The union said Minogue's allegation was "categorically false."

Minogue didn't buy any of it, telling reporters that "people know that's what happened."

The Republican nominee for governor was set to wrap up the work week of campaign events with a rally Friday evening in Fall River, two days after Healey held her own rally in the city. The South Coast city and the surrounding area is shaping up as an important battleground in this year's elections as Republicans aim to capitalize on recent momentum there and Democrats seek to prove the strength of their support. 

Republican Party Chair Amy Carnevale told the News Service in May that Bristol County is a particular area of focus for the MassGOP in legislative races, and the Fall River Herald News reported Monday that this year's midterms represent the first election in at least 50 years that Republicans have nominated a candidate for every state legislative seat in the greater Fall River area.

That leaves a lot on the plate of Westport Sen. Michael Rodrigues, chairman of the Senate Ways and Means Committee, this weekend and next week. While voters choose between another term for Rodrigues or a chance for Republican challenger Gabriel "Boomer" Amaral, Rodrigues is preparing a $2.61 billion spending bill for debate and a vote Thursday.

The Senate will stir from its three-month slumber with a formal session -- two days after the election -- to close the books on the budget that ended in June and consider policy spanning subscription cancellation to municipal procurement. Senators have until Monday to propose their own additions to the bill Rodrigues' committee passed this week.

That gives Sen. Joan Lovely of Salem and others the Halloween weekend to consider picking up where Watertown Rep. Steve Owens came up short when the House considered the bill. He filed an amendment that would have extended the state’s 1957 exoneration of accused witches beyond the Salem witch trials of 1692 to include names from Massachusetts' earlier witch hunts. It was not adopted.

The last accused witch cleared by the Legislature? Elizabeth Johnson Jr., who was exonerated in 2022 (also via a budget rider) after a push by a North Andover middle school civics class.

IN MEMORIAM: The State House community mourned the death last weekend of John Goggin, a friendly face at the state capitol for nearly three decades as a Department of Conservation and Recreation ranger. Colleagues remembered him as a kind, funny coworker and an animal lover who especially relished greeting the State House's four-legged visitors. Goggin died Oct. 24 at 64.

KELLER AT LARGE: 8:30 a.m., WBZ-TV. Political analyst Jon Keller moderates a mini-debate between the candidates for state treasurer, incumbent Democrat Deb Goldberg and Republican challenger Elizabeth Dionne.

@ ISSUE: 9:30 a.m., NBC 10. Reporter Matt Prichard holds a pre-election roundtable with political reporters Chris Van Buskirk of The Boston Globe, Mike Deehan of Axios Boston and Katie Lannan of MASSterList.

ON THE RECORD: 11 a.m., WCVB. NewsCenter 5’s Ed Harding and Sharman Sacchetti host an Election Day preview with political analysts Mary Anne Marsh and Rob Gray.

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