Massachusetts
Massachusetts GOP candidates differ on Trump, border and how they’ll take on Elizabeth Warren
![Massachusetts GOP candidates differ on Trump, border and how they’ll take on Elizabeth Warren Massachusetts GOP candidates differ on Trump, border and how they’ll take on Elizabeth Warren](https://assets3.cbsnewsstatic.com/hub/i/r/2024/08/18/1005f2eb-5723-4a2e-aeca-7927df24270e/thumbnail/1200x630/8c54b0f746dea1a432a0f81f616cab7e/full.jpg?v=d8f7565ef3e8b72561ee316b5993cbf9)
BOSTON – The three Republicans competing for the right to take on Sen. Elizabeth Warren in a fight for Massachusetts’s U.S. Senate seat debated which of them was a “real” Republican rather than a “RINO” – Republican In Name Only. The GOP candidates met in their only TV debate at the WBZ-TV studios.
Will the candidates support Donald Trump?
Each candidate was asked if they will support Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump as he aims to return to the White House.
“The big differentiating litmus test is whether someone supports the head of the ticket, which is why I’m wearing this hat,” said engineer Robert Antonellis, pointing to his bright red Make America Great Again hat. “I’m the one on the stage here who plans to vote for Donald Trump in November, and he’s the head of the ticket.”
“For me, this is about pro-growth,” said Quincy City Council President Ian Cain, who acknowledged being an unenrolled voter and a registered Democrat at times in the past. “This is about getting back to respect and rule of law. This is back to smaller government.”
“People ask, ‘Are you a Donald Trump Republican, John, or are you a Charlie Baker Republican?’ And my answer is always, ‘I’m a John Deaton Republican,’” said John Deaton, an attorney who has also been registered as a Democrat and an independent. “When I get to the United States Senate, I’m going to have one test, and that is, is it good for Massachusetts and America? If it is, I’m all in; it doesn’t matter who the president is.”
Border Security
The candidates were asked how they would have voted on last winter’s bipartisan budget deal to tighten border security that died in Congress without a vote after Senate Republicans answered Trump’s call to kill it.
Deaton said he would have voted for the bill “because it stopped the bleeding. It’s not a perfect bill…[but] James Lankford was voted number two most conservative United States Senator, and he wrote that bill. It’s not perfect, but you have to stop the bleeding, and that’s what I mean by loyalty – loyalty to the Constitution of the country, not a person, not a party.”
Antonellis disagreed. “It was a red herring. No wonder John supports it. Donald Trump was against it. It could be solved with a phone call from the White House. In other words, all the executive orders that Biden signed mere moments after taking the pen in the White House, January 20, he unraveled that border, and Donald Trump could fix it immediately. … And how many transgender bathrooms were in that bill? We don’t even know. They put all kinds of stuff into these bills.”
Cain also said he would not have supported what he called “a Chuck Schumer progressive open border bill” because it doesn’t get to the heart of the matter. “If you talk to voters across Massachusetts, irrespective of their party affiliation, illegal immigration is the number one issue on their minds. People are looking for, again, a sensible solution to closing the border, adjudicating the backlog of illegal immigrants that have arrived here to this country, ending the catch-and-release program, and then figuring out how to get back to a normal, legal immigration pathway for people that want to come here the right way.”
Taking on Elizabeth Warren
The candidates sparred on other issues, but on one topic there was solidarity.
“Elizabeth Warren has her fingerprints on every single horrible deed, everything coming from the White House, and so she is very complicit in the destruction of our society that we’re all living through today,” said Antonellis. “So whether it’s the border collapse, whether it’s crime, whether it’s inflation, whether it’s the attack on womanhood, or even the attack on our environment … she has been absolutely directly involved with.”
“She has been one of the most divisive members of the U.S. Senate since her time there. She is actually not only part of the reason that Washington is frozen, but she’s part of the reason why we’re deeply divided,” said Cain. “She uses her partisanship and her extreme partisanship to divide people. She pits people against identity. She pits classes against each other.”
Added Deaton: “She’s great at fighting against the rich and the wealthy. That is not the same as fighting for the poor and the middle class. I want to uplift people. I want to bring people up, expand the middle class, bring people out of poverty, like I brought myself out of poverty… I can do that without tearing people down… and she is the queen of finger-pointing politics.”
You can watch the debate in its entirety by clicking in the video player above.
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Massachusetts
Pols & Politics: Three Massachusetts House races that offer glimmers of competition
![Pols & Politics: Three Massachusetts House races that offer glimmers of competition Pols & Politics: Three Massachusetts House races that offer glimmers of competition](https://www.bostonherald.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/New_Hampshire_Election_Prank_96224.jpg?w=1024&h=682)
Massachusetts voters are closing in fast on this year’s primary and general elections and many residents have intense local races right in their backyard — from incumbent Democrats facing challengers with money to open seats drawing fierce competition.
Beacon Hill is well-known for lawmakers across the board gliding to re-election every two years. But in a state rife with non-competitive races, there are glimmers of hope this year that elections in Massachusetts can be more than just resigning oneself to voting for the only person on the ballot.
The state primaries are on Sept. 3 and the general election is on Nov. 5, the same day voters head to the polls to pick the next president of the United States.
With the days ticking down, here are a few House races across the state that caught our eye.
1st Plymouth
Rep. Matt Muratore’s decision to pursue an open state Senate seat has set off a mad dash in this South Shore district that covers portions of Plymouth, a town that has consistently sent a Republican to the State House for the last two decades.
Four Democrats and two Republicans have decided to throw their hat into the ring this election cycle.
Plymouth School Committee Chair Michelle Badger, Beacon Hill regular Art Desloges, local businessman Scott Hokanson, and Stephen Palmer, a former member of the Braintree Town Meeting, make up the left.
Dee Wallace Spencer, a business professor at Northeastern University, and Marine Corps veteran Jesse Brown round out the Republican primary ticket.
Spencer has dominated the fundraising game so far, raising more than $68,000 since the start of the year, spending upwards of $34,000 during the same period, and holding onto $34,000-plus as of July 31, according to campaign finance records.
Brown has raised $29,315 between the start of January and the end of July, state data shows.
Desloges has raised $24,224 since January and Badger has brought in $16,557 during the same time, according to state records. Both Palmer, who unsuccessfully ran for the seat in 2022 and 2020, and Hokanson have raised $8,000 or less this year.
27th Middlesex
Rep. Erika Uyterhoeven has not faced an opponent in her past two general elections and easily beat Democratic challengers in her previous primary contests.
But this year, a former Beacon Hill chief of staff is making a well-funded play at unseating the second-term Somerville Democrat.
Kathleen Hornby, who worked for Public Health Committee Chair Rep. Marjorie Decker for almost three years, has outraised Uyterhoeven since the start of the year, according to campaign finance filings last updated July 31.
Hornby, who also worked for former Rep. Alice Wolf for nearly five years, points to affordability in Somerville, substance use, public transportation, workers’ rights, and climate change as some of her top issues, according to her website.
Uyterhoeven said she “acted swiftly” with other colleagues in the Legislature to ensure access to reproductive rights after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade. Uyterhoeven also touches on transportation, public education, and affordable housing on her campaign website.
And speaking of Decker, the six-term Democrat from Cambridge is also facing a Democratic primary opponent this year in Evan MacKay. Decker has raised more than $117,000 since January compared to MacKay’s $48,025, according to state data.
12th Middlesex
Nearly $200,000 has poured in since January into a race for a House seat that covers parts of Newton and Brookline after the incumbent Democrat, Rep. Ruth Balser, announced she was not seeking reelection.
That decision has since spurred three Democrats to jump into the fray — Newton City Councilors Bill Humphrey and Rick Lipof and Greg Schwartz, a former city councilor and doctor who has earned Balser’s endorsement.
Lipof has ticked off public education investments, combating antisemitism, and affordability as priorities on his website. Humphrey also turned to the climate, housing, health care, and education as issues he wants to focus on while Schwartz pointed to health care, antisemitism, climate change, housing, and transportation as his priorities.
Each candidate has pulled in tens of thousands.
Lipof is leading the pack with more than $73,000 raised and $39,787 spent since January, according to state campaign finance filings. Schwartz has pulled in $66,274 this year and spent $51,488, state data shows.
Humphrey has raised $31,462 and spent $23,624 this year, according to the data.
Massachusetts
Massachusetts couple delivers baby on Cape Cod highway
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Massachusetts
Massachusetts governor pledges to sign sweeping maternal health bill – Washington Examiner
![Massachusetts governor pledges to sign sweeping maternal health bill – Washington Examiner Massachusetts governor pledges to sign sweeping maternal health bill – Washington Examiner](https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/maura-healey.webp)
BOSTON (AP) — A sweeping maternal health bill has cleared both legislative chambers and is awaiting Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey’s signature.
The bill would create a pathway for midwives and lactation consultants to obtain licenses, encourage the creation of more freestanding birth centers, and establish a grant program to address maternal mental health and substance use disorder.
The legislation would also expand the statewide universal postpartum home visiting program and mandate that insurers provide coverage for postpartum depression and major depressive disorder screenings for perinatal individuals.
“This maternal health bill will save lives for all birthing families in Massachusetts,” said Democratic state Rep. Marjorie Decker, one of the supporters of the bill.
“I am so proud that we continue to lead the nation in safeguarding reproductive health and honoring birthing autonomy by allowing more birthing options, expanding equitable access to midwifery care and postpartum support, and providing better insurance coverage for perinatal individuals,” she added.
The legislation would create a state license that certified professional midwives must receive in order to practice midwifery, and require certain insurance providers, such as MassHealth, to cover doula and midwifery services including prenatal care, childbirth and postpartum care.
The bill would also create the Board of Registration in Midwifery within the Department of Public Health to license and provide oversight of licensed certified professional midwives.
Licensed certified professional midwives would be required to coordinate emergency care if needed and would also be able to issue prescriptions for certain drugs, under regulations to be promulgated by the board and DPH.
To encourage the creation of more freestanding birth centers, which operate independent from hospital systems, the bill would require DPH to draft updated regulations governing the licensure of freestanding birth centers to ensure safe and accessible birth options.
The legislation would also require state health officials to conduct a public awareness campaign about perinatal mood and anxiety disorders, and to develop a digital resource center available to the public. It would also require that perinatal individuals be offered a screening for postpartum depression and major depressive disorder, and that those services be covered by health insurance plans.
To better address barriers in access to care and reduce racial inequities in maternal health, the bill would also expand the universal postpartum home visiting program administered by state health officials and provide coverage for the program’s services.
A 2023 Massachusetts Department of Public Health report showed that maternal morbidity nearly doubled in the state from 2011 to 2020. Black women were 2.3 times more likely than white women to experience labor and delivery complications.
Under the bill, health insurers would also be required to provide coverage for medically necessary pasteurized donor human milk and products derived from it, serving as a critical source of nutrition for the growth and development of babies, particularly for vulnerable premature infants.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Healey indicated support for the bill when asked Friday
“Of course I’m going to sign it,” Healey said.
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