Maura Healey | |
|---|---|
 Official portrait, 2023 | |
| 73rdGovernor of Massachusetts | |
| Assumed office January 5, 2023 | |
| Lieutenant | Kim Driscoll |
| Preceded by | Charlie Baker |
| 44thAttorney General of Massachusetts | |
| In office January 21, 2015 – January 5, 2023 | |
| Governor | Charlie Baker |
| Preceded by | Martha Coakley |
| Succeeded by | Andrea Campbell |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Maura Tracy Healey (1971-02-08)February 8, 1971 (age 54) Bethesda, Maryland, U.S. |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Domestic partner | Joanna Lydgate |
| Education | Harvard University (BA) Northeastern University (JD) |
| Signature |  |
| Website | Office website Campaign website |
Maura Healey signs into law S.2967, a bill to accelerate clean energy deployment in Massachusetts. Recorded December 11, 2024 | |
Maura Tracy Healey (born February 8, 1971[1]) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the 73rdgovernor of Massachusetts since 2023. A member of theDemocratic Party, she served asMassachusetts Attorney General from 2015 to 2023 and waselected governor in 2022.
Hired by Massachusetts Attorney GeneralMartha Coakley in 2007, Healey served as chief of the Civil Rights Division, where she led the state's challenge to the federalDefense of Marriage Act. She was then appointed chief of the Public Protection and Advocacy Bureau and then chief of the Business and Labor Bureau, before resigning in 2013 to run for attorney general in 2014. She defeated former State SenatorWarren Tolman in the Democratic primary and Republican attorney John Miller in the general election. Healey was reelected in 2018.[2] She waselected governor of Massachusetts in 2022.[3]
In 2014, Healey became thefirst openly lesbian woman electedattorney general of a U.S. state and thefirst openly LGBTQ person elected to statewide office inMassachusetts.[4] In 2022, she became one of thefirst two openly lesbian women and thejoint-third openly LGBT person elected governor of aU.S. state, as well as the first woman electedgovernor of Massachusetts.[5][6]
Born at theBethesda Naval Hospital,[7] Healey grew up as the oldest of five brothers and sisters. When she was nine months old, her family moved toHampton Falls, New Hampshire, where she was raised.[8] Her mother was a nurse atLincoln Akerman School inHampton Falls; her father was a captain in theUnited States Public Health Service and an engineer. After divorcing, her mother sold her wedding ring to pay for a backyard basketball court.[7] Healey's stepfather, Edward Beattie, taught history and coached girls' sports atWinnacunnet High School. Several of her grandparents and great-grandparents were born inIreland.[9]
Healey attended Winnacunnet High School,[10] and majored in government atHarvard College, graduatingcum laude in 1992. She was co-captain of theHarvard Crimson women's basketball team.[11] After graduation, Healey spent two years playing as a starting point guard for a professional basketball team inAustria, UBBC Wüstenrot Salzburg, now called BBU Salzburg.[12][13] Upon returning to the United States, she earned aJuris Doctor fromNortheastern University School of Law in 1998.[14]
Healey began her legal career by clerking for JudgeA. David Mazzone of theUnited States District Court for the District of Massachusetts, where she prepared monthly compliance reports on the cleanup of theBoston Harbor and assisted the judge with trials, hearings, and case conferences. Healey subsequently spent more than seven years at the law firmWilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP, where she worked as an associate and then junior partner and focused on commercial and securities litigation.[15]
She also served as a special assistant district attorney inMiddlesex County, where she tried drug, assault, domestic violence, and motor vehicle cases in bench and jury sessions and argued bail hearings, motions to suppress, and probation violations and surrenders.[15]
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Hired by Massachusetts Attorney GeneralMartha Coakley in 2007, Healey served as chief of the Civil Rights Division, where she spearheaded the state's challenge to the federalDefense of Marriage Act. She led the winning arguments for Massachusetts in the country's first lawsuit striking down the law.[16]
In 2012, Healey was promoted to chief of the Public Protection and Advocacy Bureau.[17] She was then appointed chief of the Business and Labor Bureau.[18]
As a division chief and bureau head in the Attorney General's Office, Healey oversaw 250 lawyers and staff members and supervised the areas ofconsumer protection, fair labor, ratepayer advocacy, environmental protection, health care, insurance and financial services, civil rights, antitrust, Medicaid fraud, nonprofit organizations and charities, and business, technology, and economic development.[15][18]
During aZoom conference call on June 3, 2020, before 300 members of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, Healey asked for a call to action from business leaders to work to end racial inequalities andsystemic racism. She ended her speech by saying, "Yes, America is burning, but that's how forests grow."[19][20]
In October 2013, Healey announced her candidacy for attorney general. Coakley was retiring from the office torun for governor. On September 9, 2014, Healey won the Democratic primary by 126,420 votes, defeating former State SenatorWarren Tolman, 62.4% to 37.6%.[21]
Healey's campaign was endorsed by State SenatorsStan Rosenberg,Dan Wolf, andJamie Eldridge.[22] It was also endorsed by Northwestern District Attorney David Sullivan,Holyoke Mayor Alex Morse,Fitchburg Mayor Lisa Wong, andNorthampton Mayor David Narkewicz.[23][24] Organizations that endorsed the campaign include the Planned Parenthood Advocacy Fund of Massachusetts,MassEquality, theVictory Fund, andEMILY's List.[25][26][27][28] Healey wrote an op-ed in theWorcester Telegram and Gazette on upholding the Massachusetts buffer zone law, which she worked on at the Attorney General's Office.[14] She also authored an op-ed inThe Boston Globe outlining her plan to combat student loan predators.[29][30][31]
Healey defeated Republican nominee John Miller, an attorney, in the general election, 62.5% to 37.5%. Upon taking office, she became the United States' first openly lesbian state attorney general.[32][33]
On November 6, 2018, Healey was reelected Massachusetts Attorney General, defeating Republican nominee James McMahon with 69.9% of the vote.[2]
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Healey's plan to reduce gun violence addresses what she perceives as its root causes. The program includes enhancing the background check system to include information regarding recent restraining orders, pending indictments, and any relations to domestic violence, parole, and probation information. The plan also seeks to track better stolen and missing guns. Healey advocates fingerprint trigger locks and firearm micro-stamping on all guns sold in Massachusetts.[34][35]
Healey's plan for criminal justice reform includes ending mandatory sentences for nonviolent drug offenders and focusing on treatment rather than incarceration.[36]
Healey plans to combat prescription drug abuse and Massachusetts's heroin epidemic by implementing a "lock-in" program. The program will be carried out in pharmacies to identify and track prescription drug abusers and distributors. Her plan includes deployment of new resources to drug trafficking hotspots, improvement of treatment accessibility, and expanding access to Narcan.[37]
Healey's women's rights platform focuses on sex education, expanding access to abortion services in Massachusetts, and ensuring that every woman in Massachusetts has access to abortion, regardless of where she lives, her occupation, or her income.[38]
On July 20, 2016, Healey announced her intention to ban the manufacturing of most assault rifles in Massachusetts.[39] In 2021, as a result of this and other "arbitrary and damaging legislation",[40]Smith & Wesson announced plans to relocate its headquarters and much of its manufacturing from Massachusetts to Tennessee. The new factory opened inMaryville in 2023.[41]
On January 31, 2017, Healey announced that her office was joining a lawsuit challenging PresidentDonald Trump'sExecutive Order 13769,[42][43] commonly known as a "Muslim ban."[44][45] Healey condemned the order as "motivated by anti-Muslim sentiment and Islamophobia, not by a desire to further national security."[42] A federal court eventually struck the order down on similar grounds.[46]
On March 9, 2017, Healey announced that her office was joining a lawsuit challenging Trump'sExecutive Order 13780.[47][48] She said the new order, a revised version of the one that had been struck down, "remains a discriminatory and unconstitutional attempt to make good on [Trump's] campaign promise to implement a Muslim ban."[47] The order has been blocked in various federal courts on similar grounds.[48][49]
On May 11, 2017, after Trump fired FBI DirectorJames Comey, Healey led efforts calling for a special counsel to investigate Russia's meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Her office sent a letter to that effect, signed by 20 Attorneys General across the nation, to Deputy U.S. Attorney GeneralRod Rosenstein.[50] On May 17, Rosenstein appointed a special counsel, former FBI directorRobert Mueller.[51]
In 2021, Healey announced a resolution against the Sackler family andPurdue Pharma. The resolution requires a payment of more than $4.3 billion for prevention, treatment, and recovery efforts in communities across the country. It will also require Purdue Pharma to be wound down or sold by 2024 and ensure that the Sacklers are banned from the opioid business and are required to turn over control of family foundations to an independent trustee to be used to address the opioid epidemic.[52]
On January 20, 2022, Healey announced her candidacy in the 2022 Massachusetts gubernatorial election.[53] Her announcement came after the incumbent governor,Charlie Baker, a Republican, announced he would not seek reelection.[54] On September 6, Healey won the Democratic primary election. She defeatedSonia Chang-Díaz, who withdrew from the primary.[55] Healey was endorsed by Vice PresidentKamala Harris[56] and U.S. SenatorsElizabeth Warren andEd Markey.[57]
On November 8, 2022, Healey defeated Republican nomineeGeoff Diehl, receiving 64% of the vote in the general election to Diehl's 35%. This made her the first woman elected governor of Massachusetts and one of the first two openly lesbian governors in the U.S., along withTina Kotek of Oregon, who was also elected in 2022.[58][59][60] She was inaugurated on January 5, 2023.[61]
In February 2025, Healey announced during an interview her intention to run for reelection in 2026.[62][60]
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The day after being sworn in, Healey signed an Executive Order establishing the Office of Climate Innovation and Resilience and creating a cabinet-level position of Climate Chief to head the office. According to Healey, the office will be tasked with working with state and local leaders to help the Commonwealth reach its climate goals and help coordinate the efforts. The Climate Chief will also be the governor's primary advisor on climate issues. Healey appointedMelissa Hoffer to the role.[63][64]
In February 2023, the Healey administration announced a $742 milliontax cut package to be filed, as an addition to its proposedfiscal year 2024 budget. Among the proposals included was an increase in thechild and family tax credit from $240 to $600 per child or dependent. The plans would also increase the rental deduction cap from 50% of rent up to $3,000 to 50% of $4,000. Under the proposal, the state's short-termcapital gains tax would be reduced from 12% to 5% and the estate tax threshold would be raised from $1 million to $3 million.[65][66] The state legislature passed a scaled-back version of this proposal that increased the child and dependent tax credit to $310 for the 2023 tax year and $440 for the following years. The short-term capital gains tax was reduced to 8.5%, and theestate tax was eliminated for all estates under $2 million. Healey signed these changes into law on October 4, 2023.[67]
At anews conference held atBunker Hill Community College in March 2023, Healey announced a $20 million appropriation to her 2024 fiscal year state budget proposal to create afreecommunity college program, "MassReconnect", for Massachusetts residents 25 or older with asecondary schooldegree orpost-secondarycourse credits, to address theskills gap in the state workforce.[68][69] The state legislature approved the plan, as part of the 2024 fiscal year state budget, which Healey signed into law in August.[70][71] In May 2023, Healey's administration announced $24.4 million in job creationtax incentives for 43life sciences companies in the state to create 1,600 jobs.[72]
In August 2023, Healey declared a state of emergency due to an increase in migrants seeking shelter in the state. Massachusetts is the only U.S. state that must provide emergency housing to families who qualify. At the time of the emergency declaration, the shelter system was housing over 20,000 people.[73][74] Healey set a limit of 7,500 on the number of families that could be housed in the state's emergency shelter system. The state exceeded this limit in November 2023. On November 9, Healey announced that families would be placed on a waiting list and would enter the shelter system as housing units became available.[75] In December, she signed a $3.1 billion supplemental budget bill that added another $250 million in funding for the state's shelter system and created an overflow location for migrants who were unable to enter the state's shelter system. Later that month, the administration designated five locations as overflow sites.[76][77] On April 30, 2024, Healey signed a bill that directed another $251 million into the shelter system for the rest of fiscal year 2024 and limited how long families can stay in the shelter system to nine months.[78]
In February 2024, Healey nominated her former romantic partner, appellate court judgeGabrielle Wolohojian, to theMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. Facing criticism for this decision, especially fromMassachusetts Republican Party chair Amy Carnevale, who called on her to withdraw the nomination, Healey defended the choice. "I don't want the fact that she had a personal relationship with me to deprive the commonwealth of a person who's most qualified for the position", she told reporters.[79][80] TheGovernor's Council approved the nomination on February 28 and Wolohojian was sworn in on April 22.[81][82]
On October 29, 2025, Healey fired her Western Massachusetts Deputy Director, LaMar Cook, after he was charged with both cocaine trafficking and gun-related charges.[83]
Healey is regarded as aliberal.[84][85] In her early career, she was called a "progressive prosecutor",[86] but some progressives criticized her as insufficiently supportive of law enforcement reform.[87] During her 2022 campaign for governor, Healey was characterized as staking out somewhatmoderate positions on several issues.[86] As governor, she has taken several moderate andcentrist positions on policy.[88][89] She is regarded as more moderate (less progressive and less liberal) than some other leading Massachusetts Democratic politicians, such asElizabeth Warren[90] andMichelle Wu.[86][89] In a 2024 interview, Healey called herself a "pro-growth Democrat" on economic matters, citing her support of tax cuts for themiddle class.[91]
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In July 2022, Healey moved from Boston toCambridge, Massachusetts.[92] She plays basketball recreationally.[93][94][95][96] On January 9, 2023, shortly after being inaugurated as governor, Healey announced that she is in a relationship with attorney Joanna Lydgate, her former chief deputy. She clarified that their relationship did not begin until Lydgate had departed the role to co-found the States United Democracy Center, a voting rights advocacy organization.[97]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Maura Healey | 322,380 | 62.1 | |
| Democratic | Warren Tolman | 195,654 | 37.7 | |
| Write-in | 721 | 0.1 | ||
| Total votes | 518,755 | 100.0 | ||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Maura Healey | 1,280,513 | 61.7 | |
| Republican | John Miller | 793,821 | 38.2 | |
| Write-in | 1,885 | 0.1 | ||
| Total votes | 2,076,219 | 100.0 | ||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Maura Healey | 1,874,209 | 69.9 | |
| Republican | Jay McMahon III | 804,832 | 30.0 | |
| Write-in | 1,858 | 0.1 | ||
| Total votes | 2,680,899 | 100.0 | ||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Maura Healey | 642,092 | 85.3 | |
| Democratic | Sonia Chang-Diaz | 108,574 | 14.4 | |
| Write-in | 1,972 | 0.3 | ||
| Total votes | 777,226 | 100.0 | ||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Maura Healey | 1,584,403 | 63.7% | +30.6% | |
| Republican | Geoff Diehl | 859,343 | 34.6% | −32% | |
| Libertarian | Kevin Reed | 39,205 | 1.6% | +1.6% | |
| Turnout | 2,508,298 | 100% | |||
| Democraticgain fromRepublican | Swing | ||||
"Yes, America is burning. But that's how forests grow," she said.
'America is burning, but that's how forests grow,' she tells Greater Boston Chamber
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| Party political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Martha Coakley | Democratic nominee for Attorney General of Massachusetts 2014,2018 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Democratic nominee forGovernor of Massachusetts 2022 | Most recent |
| Legal offices | ||
| Preceded by | Attorney General of Massachusetts 2015–2023 | Succeeded by Kate R. Cook Acting |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Governor of Massachusetts 2023–present | Incumbent |
| U.S. order of precedence (ceremonial) | ||
| Preceded byasVice President | Order of precedence of the United States Within Massachusetts | Succeeded by Mayor of city in which event is held |
| Succeeded by OtherwiseMike Johnson asSpeaker of the House | ||
| Preceded byasGovernor of Connecticut | Order of precedence of the United States Outside Massachusetts | Succeeded byasGovernor of Maryland |
| Lieutenant Governor |
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| Secretary of Administration and Finance |
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| Secretary of Education |
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| Secretary of Climate |
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| Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs |
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| Secretary of Economic Development |
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| Secretary of Technology Services and Security |
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| Secretary of Public Safety and Security |
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| Secretary of Labor and Workforce Development |
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| Secretary of Transportation |
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| Secretary of Health and Human Services |
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| Secretary of Veterans' Services |
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| Secretary of Housing and Livable Communities |
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