Mike Kennealy, a former cupboard secretary underneath Gov. Charlie Baker, formally introduced a run for governor of Massachusetts Monday, making him the primary Republican to formally problem Gov. Maura Healey for the state’s highest workplace.
Kennealy, a 57-year-old Lexington conservative with a background in personal fairness, joins a race that’s certain to concentrate on Healey’s dealing with of migrant arrivals and the price of dwelling. However Kennealy additionally faces an uphill battle in opposition to the well-funded Healey with President Donald Trump within the White Home and Democrats in stable management of the state.
In a video saying his marketing campaign that was shared with the Herald, Kennealy mentioned younger folks, households, and seniors are “choosing to leave” Massachusetts as a result of the state is “headed in the wrong direction” for the primary time in a few years.
“Everything from gas to housing to taxes is too expensive. Too many kids aren’t receiving the education they need to compete in a global economy,” he mentioned. “Our transportation system is still broken. The unspeakable violence in migrant shelters is a human tragedy and a national embarrassment. The political class of Beacon Hill is more concerned with their future than with ours. Our beacon on a hill has become a beacon in the rearview mirror.”
The primary-time candidate for elected workplace plans to seed his marketing campaign with $2 million from his personal private wealth, in response to a marketing campaign advisor. The money will assist put him on an almost even taking part in discipline with Healey’s formidable $2.8 million tenting conflict chest.
Kennealy, who has lengthy been weighing a run for governor, pitched himself as somebody who has “succeeded in business and as a public servant in state and local government.”
“I’ve traveled all over our commonwealth to work with business and government and community leaders to get things done. I’ve helped turn around a broken public school system and create better pathways for our kids. I’d like to put my experience to work for you,” he mentioned within the launch video.
In 2013, Kennealy left personal fairness to function a particular advisor to the Lawrence Public Colleges, which was positioned underneath state management in 2011.
His marketing campaign mentioned his time with the college district noticed him work with a workforce that “reallocated funds directly to the classroom by cutting bureaucratic inefficiencies while bringing together community partners to support students and their parents.”
However Kennealy is probably going greatest recognized for his eight years working within the Baker administration, the place he began out as assistant secretary for enterprise development and was later named secretary of housing and financial growth, a place he held from December 2018 to January 2023.
Throughout his time working for the Republican governor, Kennealy helped implement the controversial MBTA Communities Act, a zoning regulation signed by Baker in 2021 that requires some cities and cities to zone not less than one district close to transit hubs for multi-family housing.
As secretary of housing and financial growth, Kennealy assisted the Baker administration in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, together with when the previous governor shut down a large swath of companies within the state after which rolled out a multi-stage reopening plan.
As soon as Baker left workplace, Kennealy went to work for the Boys and Ladies Membership of Boston as a senior advisor, the place he “focused on improving the lives of children and young adults from Roxbury, Dorchester, Mattapan, South Boston, and Chelsea with academic support and workforce preparedness programs,” in response to his marketing campaign.
Massachusetts voters are set to decide on their subsequent governor in fall 2026, and Kennealy might face opposition from inside his personal social gathering.
A number of different Republicans are nonetheless mulling a run for governor, together with Sen. Peter Durant of Spencer, enterprise capitalist and former MBTA official Brian Shortsleeve, and native Republican donor Michael Minogue.
Healey, the primary lady and overtly homosexual candidate elected to the Governor’s Workplace, mentioned earlier this yr that she plans to run for a second time period. No different Democrat has publicly introduced curiosity in a gubernatorial bid.
Healey has spent her first two years in workplace fielding a sequence of challenges which have examined her administration, together with the surge of migrant arrivals and the meltdown of Steward Health Care, and extra not too long ago, skyrocketing power payments.
However the former lawyer normal has continued to take pleasure in majority assist amongst Massachusetts voters, in response to a February ballot from the College of Massachusetts Amherst and WCVB.
The survey of 700 Massachusetts residents discovered the governor had a 52% total approval ranking for the job she is doing, whereas 57% of respondents mentioned she has “thus far performed ‘well’ during her time as governor,” in response to the ballot.
The primary-term Democrat from Arlington additionally raised greater than $404,000 in March, her greatest fundraising month because the 2022 election that noticed her defeat Republican candidate Geoff Diehl, in response to marketing campaign finance data.
Nonetheless, in his marketing campaign video, Kennealy mentioned Massachusetts has an opportunity “to chart a new future, to restore common sense to the commonwealth, to create a Massachusetts that works for everyone.”
“This is a time, more than ever, when we need strong and experienced leadership. I love this state and this country, and I want to serve because just like you, I want to make Massachusetts a better place to live, work, and raise a family. And I believe that I can,” he mentioned.
