Blam! Blam Blam!
Watch out, shots fired! Oh, never mind. It’s just the perennial shootout in a lifeboat synonymous with the modern-day Massachusetts Republican Party.
Massachusetts Democrats enjoy intramural combat as well. (Pro tip: don’t invite both Diana DiZoglio and Andrea Campbell to your Memorial Day cookout.) But few political groups seem to fall on each other with such regularity and relish as our tiny GOP cohort.
And just as the party is emerging from a Trump-era miasma of lawsuits and losing, they’re at it again in a race for governor that on paper seems like an opportunity to enhance the brand.
The state Republican convention last month produced two relatively attractive potential challengers to Maura Healey. Both medical device executive Mike Minogue and venture capitalist Brian Shortsleeve are distinguished military veterans. Both are personable, articulate conservatives fully capable of pressing the case for change.
But because Minogue got 70% support from the tiny (less than 1,800 votes total) convention crowd and Shortsleeve barely cleared the 15% threshold for ballot access, Minogue world is putting on a full-court press to force Shortsleeve out of the race. “The goal is not a drawn-out primary that burns time, money, and energy. The goal is winning in November and giving Massachusetts voters a real choice,” former party chair Jennifer Nassour posted on X.
Too bad Nassour isn’t an NBA commissioner. By her reasoning, the Sixers should have forfeited the series because the Celtics had a better regular-season record.
“Mike Minogue is the endorsed candidate, he won decisively, and he is best positioned to take on Maura Healey,” wrote Nassour. But the high-water mark of modern times for local Republicans was their legislative gains and return to gubernatorial power in the 1990 election, which featured two candidates for governor - Bill Weld and John Silber - who failed to win their party convention endorsements. Thirty-six years later, signs that the wider electorate in the primaries or the general look to the low-profile party conventions for voting guidance are non-existent.
If Minogue is in fact the best candidate to take on the daunting task of upsetting Healey this fall, there’s one sure way to prove it - demonstrating his untested skills as a campaigner and debater who can unite Republicans and attract independents in the process of Shortsleeve.
There are a mere 15 weeks to go until the September 1 primary, only seven until school’s out and political campaigns must contend with a distracted audience. A self-funder like Minogue can buy name recognition with an avalanche of TV ads, but free media will be harder to come by. Just ask presumptive Senate nominee John Deaton, unopposed in his primary, what it’s like trying to get exposure.
And there’s no free media better than televised debates. Refusal to debate a legitimate opponent is a sign of weakness. Geoff Diehl won the 2022 convention endorsement with the same 70-plus percent landslide as Minogue, then declined televised debates with Chris Doughty while insisting on TV debates with Healey because “voters should see the difference between us.” Voters saw Healey mop the floor with him and ended Diehl’s career.
“A candidate who will not debate is disrespecting voters,” says Shortsleeve. “Sometimes competition is…healthy for our party,” adds party chair Amy Carnevale.
Debating an opponent as part of a primary campaign that expands brand exposure to a mass audience is a great way to respect voters and demonstrate competitive skill.
Minogue has a choice.
He can go that route, or feed ammo to the circular firing squad.
Blam! Blam! Uh-oh, we sank our own boat!
