There may be one other Republican main race aide from Massachusetts’ gubernatorial contest price maintaining a tally of over the subsequent yr — the battle to seek out out which conservative will tackle U.S. Rep. Invoice Keating in 2026 for his South Shore and Cape Cod district.
High brass on the Massachusetts Republican Social gathering pointed to Keating’s final reelection bid, during which he fended off Manomet’s Dan Sullivan with 56% of the vote, as signal. Social gathering officers argued Sullivan’s means to drag in 46% of ballots forged bodes nicely for the subsequent election cycle.
MassGOP Chair Amy Carnevale mentioned she is wanting “forward to retiring Bill Keating next year.”
“We certainly need the change here in Massachusetts and need checks and balances and two-party government, so we look forward to doing that,” she mentioned at a MassGOP assembly in Canton Thursday evening.
Sullivan is working once more subsequent yr and is about to face Mattapoisett’s Tyler Macallister within the main election.
On the MassGOP assembly Thursday, Macallister pitched himself as an avid fisherman who understands the struggles of native companies. The 57-year-old blasted renewable wind vitality tasks off the coast of Massachusetts for making a “biological desert.”
“What I’m seeing now is a desert, a biological desert, being created by international companies who are reaping our dollars,” he mentioned.
Macallister mentioned he desires to serve in Congress as a result of the Congressional district has “a lot of coastlines” and loads of “interaction with the ocean.”
“It’s time that we had more representation at the highest level for the fishery side, but also the environmental side,” he mentioned.
Sullivan caught to a extra conventional Republican line of assault.
He slammed Democrats on Beacon Hill and mentioned President Donald Trump “is not a threat to democracy.”
“He is a threat to bureaucracy. And bureaucracy is not democracy, and a permanent bureaucracy is not public services. That’s an oligarchy,” he mentioned on the MassGOP assembly.
Sullivan, who mentioned he’s a registered nurse, additionally slammed Democrats for being “unwilling” to downsize the federal authorities.
“What’s the Democrats’ version of the American Dream? Rent an apartment? Okay, rely on the MBTA to get around. No children. Can’t have any children. So the Democrats are campaigning to lower the standard of living,” he mentioned.
Mike Kennealy’s stump speech…
Sullivan and Macallister weren’t the one candidates to seek out themselves providing stump speeches in entrance of a pleasant crowd Thursday evening.
Mike Kennealy, a Republican hoping to problem Gov. Maura Healey subsequent yr, gave a roughly 10-minute pitch to the Massachusetts Republican State Committee during which he described the 2026 race as a “critical year” for conservatives.
“We got to succeed up and down the ballot — local, state federal races and ballot questions,” he mentioned.
The 57-year-old from Lexington additionally tried to set himself aside from his competitor Brian Shortsleeve, a enterprise capitalist and former MBTA official who can be working to tackle Healey subsequent yr.
“I am the Republican with the rack record, the experience, and the relationships to compete for and win and do the job,” he mentioned. “I am ready to be your governor given my experience in business and local government, in education and state government.”
Kennealy beforehand served because the state’s secretary of housing and financial improvement below former Gov. Charlie Baker, a high official on the Boys and Ladies Golf equipment of Boston, and as an government in personal fairness.
He touched on reining in authorities spending, transparency on Beacon Hill, state-run emergency shelters, and unlawful immigration into america.
“I will declare on day one that Massachusetts is not a sanctuary state,” he mentioned to a spherical of applause. “And local, and state, and county law enforcement will work with the feds to get criminals out of our shelters, off our streets, and out of our state.”
Political signal anger in Hyde Park
It’s a free-for-all exterior the Fairmont Relaxation Dwelling in Hyde Park as political indicators scream out from all sides of the intersection. “The whole neighborhood is tired of it,” an area resident tells us, including it has turn out to be an “eyesore and a nuisance.”
Election-year garden indicators might be annoying however this has taken that up a number of notches. As you possibly can see, everyone is getting in on the motion. Perhaps the elected officers might dial it again a bit, or it could value them votes on this neck of the city.
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Picture By Matt Stone/Boston Herald
MassGOP thinks that Congressman Invoice Keating, seen right here talking to the media final yr, is susceptible within the subsequent election. (Picture By Matt Stone/Boston Herald)
