DEDHAM — Massachusetts Republican Get together Chair Amy Carnevale gained reelection Saturday to the highest publish within the state celebration, beating out a single challenger for a second time period with a pledge to proceed professionalizing the group forward of a state election in 2026.
A former lobbyist and longtime committeewoman, Carnevale took over because the celebration’s chair in 2023 because the group was combating its funds, vicious infighting, and key electoral losses. However the Marblehead Republican argued she has helped rework the celebration since then.
In remarks simply earlier than her win, Carnevale stated she helped the celebration finish 5 lawsuits in opposition to it, put the group on a path to repay greater than $700,000 in debt incurred below prior chair Jim Lyons, introduced in a brand new compliance agency to settle payments and fines, and boosted its messaging.
“We will never become a force in state or national politics unless we keep the infighting that’s plagued us back in the rearview mirror, which is a theme that we’ve heard a lot about today,” Carnevale stated. “The MassGOP has always been an underdog in the fight but if you reelect me here today, I promise that you will never remain out of it. Over the next two years, I will work with all of you to grow our party from within.”
Republican State Committee members voted 47 to 22 to put in Carnevale because the chair for the subsequent two years over Jim Davidson, who argued Carnevale’s first time period noticed fundraising decline and a low turnout of Republican candidates within the 2024 election.
Davidson, who labored on the profitable marketing campaign of Rep. Justin Thurber, a Somerset Republican, stated the celebration wanted new management after a web zero achieve within the Massachusetts Home and a single pickup within the Senate.
“You have two choices before you on how you want to spend the next two years of your life. Do you want to spend it in the same room listening to the same people saying,
if only Massachusetts wasn’t so blue things would be different’ or do you want to spend it fighting and taking back our state and winning every competitive district against the Democrats?” he stated.
Jo-Anne Hodgson, a state committeewoman and the spouse of former Bristol County Sheriff Tom Hodgson, stated the Massachusetts Republican Get together is experiencing an “interesting time” after working by way of “hard feelings.”
She stated the MassGOP is in a “different place at this moment in time.”
“We are not lemmings like the opposition party, where everybody has to be in lockstep, everybody has to believe absolutely every piece of the philosophies right down to the nickel. We have an opportunity to be a big tent and under Amy, we have become that,” she stated.
The celebration shouldn’t be fully away from its monetary troubles, together with cleansing up $74,000 in potential unlawful contributions it acquired throughout the 2022 election cycle.
The MassGOP is working in direction of a settlement with the Workplace of Marketing campaign and Political Finance that will seemingly see the group pay “significantly less” than the alleged unlawful donations, Carnevale stated.
“Instead of either refunding or repaying or disgorging dollar-for-dollar contributions, you’re basically just offering a lower amount,” she informed reporters.
Carnevale’s second time period will see her information the celebration by way of the 2026 election when residents will vote for his or her subsequent governor and U.S. Sen. Ed Markey is up for reelection.
Mike Kennealy, a former secretary below Gov. Charlie Baker, stated he’s “seriously considering” a gubernatorial bid as a Republican in 2026. Gov. Maura Healey has not stated whether or not she plans to run for a second time period.
Kennealy, who was current at Saturday’s Republican state committee assembly, didn’t present a timeline for a possible announcement nor did he give any perception into what is going to tip him by some means.
“I’m seriously considering it. That’s about all I have to say today. I want to really keep the focus on Amy and her leadership. She’s done a terrific job for us. But we’ll have more to say about that,” Kennealy informed the Herald. “I can confirm I am seriously considering at this point.”
The race for the highest elected publish on the MassGOP got here the identical week Healey discovered herself below hearth for her dealing with of safety at state-run emergency shelters housing migrants and native residents.
Healey acknowledged Friday that her administration was not conducting widespread prison background checks for everybody within the shelter system regardless of an order within the spring to take action.
The primary-term Democrat reordered state officers to look into the potential prison histories of all state-run shelter residents, stated she would fee an unbiased overview of safety at shelter websites, and signaled an openness to residency necessities for the emergency help program.
Carnevale stated Healey is “backed into a corner and failing in the polls every day” and the celebration would attempt to put ahead “a challenge in nearly every legislative race in 2026.”
“We have tremendous opportunities in 2026,” Carnevale stated. “I feel like 2024 was really laying the groundwork for this next election cycle. We have so much to do to bring back accountability, transparency, and Republican principles here in Massachusetts, and the opportunity is ours.”
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