Bill Galvin
Galvinc. 2008
27thSecretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts
Incumbent
Assumed office January 1, 1995
Governor	Bill Weld Paul Cellucci Jane Swift (acting) Mitt Romney Deval Patrick Charlie Baker Maura Healey
Preceded by	Michael J. Connolly
Member of theMassachusetts House of Representatives
In office January 1975 – January 1991
Preceded by	Michael Daly
Succeeded by	Susan Tracy
Constituency	27thSuffolk (1975–1979) 19th Suffolk (1979–1991)
Personal details
Born	William Francis Galvin (1950-09-17)September 17, 1950 (age 75) Brighton,Massachusetts, U.S.
Party	Democratic
Spouse	Eileen Galvin
Children	Bridget Galvin
Education	Boston College (BA) Suffolk University (JD)
Signature
Website	Government website

William Francis Galvin (born September 17, 1950) is an American politician who has served as the 27thMassachusetts secretary of the commonwealth since 1995. A member of theDemocratic Party, he previously served in theMassachusetts House of Representatives from 1975 to 1991.

Galvin was born and raised in theBrighton neighborhood ofBoston.^[1] He attended Saint Mary's High School inWaltham, Massachusetts^[2] and graduated in 1968.^[3] Galvin graduatedcum laude^[4] from Boston College in 1972^[5] and received aJuris Doctor fromSuffolk University Law School^[6] in 1976.^[4]

Galvin began his political career in 1972 as an aide to theMassachusetts Governor's Council after graduating from Boston College, thanks to his connection with councilorHerb Connolly, whom Galvin had campaigned for. Galvin worked part-time at the council while attending Suffolk Law School full-time.^[7] Galvin won a special election to the open seat in theMassachusetts General Court in 1975, after State Representative Michael Daly departed from office; the race had nine candidates. Galvin became theMassachusetts state representative from theAllston-Brighton district, the same year he graduated from law school.^[7] He was the Democratic nominee forMassachusetts State Treasurer in 1990, but was defeated by RepublicanJoe Malone.^[7] It was during this election that he was given the nickname "The Prince of Darkness", in reference to his habit of working late into the night and making legislative deals behind closed doors.^[8][9] He was first elected Secretary of the Commonwealth in1994, and has retained this title longer than any other politician in Massachusetts history.^[10]

Galvin has been an active participant in theNational Association of Secretaries of State, serving first as Chairman of the Standing Committee on Securities, then as co-chairman of the Committee on Presidential Primaries.

At one point during the administration of Gov.Mitt Romney and Lt. Gov.Kerry Healey, Galvin became theActing Governor of Massachusetts when both Romney and Healey were out of the state. During the administration of former Acting GovernorJane Swift, Galvin automatically became Acting Governor whenever Swift left the state, since there was no lieutenant governor in office at the time. When Swift gave birth to twins in 2001, she chose to keep full executive authority and did not hand over the governorship at any point to Galvin.^[7]

While it had been widely rumored that Galvin would run forGovernor of Massachusetts in 2006 as aDemocrat, he announced at the end of 2005 that he would instead seek reelection as Secretary of State. Voting rights advocateJohn Bonifaz had already declared that he would run for the office, and stayed in the race to challenge Galvin for re-election. However, Galvin defeated Bonifaz in the September 19 Democratic primary. Galvin defeatedGreen-Rainbow Party candidateJill Stein, a medical doctor and environmental health advocate who ran forGovernor in 2002, in the November general election.

The Democratic primary race received relatively little attention or press coverage for most of 2006, but in the last few weeks before election, a controversy over Galvin's refusal to debate his opponent broke into the news with a front-page story inThe Boston Sunday Globe.^[11] This is the first time a front-page story appeared about this race in any major Boston paper.

In November 2017,Boston City Council memberJosh Zakim announced that he would run for Secretary of the Commonwealth, challenging fellow-Democrat Galvin in the2018 election.^[12] Amid the primary challenge, Galvin came out in favor of same-day voter registration and automatic voter registration.^[13] Previously, Galvin had expressed skepticism of automatic voter registration, and had appealed aSuperior Court ruling which struck down a state law requiring that voters be registered 20 days prior to an election in order to vote in it.^[14][15][16] On June 2, 2018, Zakim won the endorsement of the Massachusetts Democratic Party at its state convention, defeating Galvin with 55% of the vote to Galvin's 45%.^[17] Galvin subsequently defeated Zakim in the Democratic primary on September 4 with 67% of the vote.^[18] On November 6, Galvin won re-election as Secretary of the Commonwealth, winning 71% of the vote against Republican Anthony Amore.^[19]

In January 2022,NAACP Boston president Tanisha Sullivan announced a campaign for Secretary of the Commonwealth.^[20] Galvin campaigned on his voting rights record, having implemented no-excusemail-in voting during theCOVID-19 pandemic, which became a permanent change. On the other hand, Sullivan claimed that he hadn't gone far enough to furthervoting rights. She claimed that mail-in voting should have been implemented before the pandemic, and emphasized that Massachusetts still did not have same-dayvoter registration. Galvin claimed that while he supports same-day registration, the legislature is responsible for implementing it.^[21] Sullivan won the endorsement of thestate Democratic Party, as well as from multipleBoston city councillors and mayors. 62% of Massachusetts Democratic Party Convention delegates voted to support her. During the campaign, Sullivan was more active, attending regular interviews and hosting rallies, while Galvin ran a quieter campaign.^[22] Galvin defeated Sullivan in the September 6 Democratic primary with 70% of the vote.^[23] In the general election, Galvin faced Republican Rayla Campbell, who opposed mail in voting.^[21] On November 8, Galvin won re-election with 68% of the vote.^[24]

On February 4, 2026, Galvin announced he would be running for a ninth term, adding that he had "no intention of running in 2030."^[25]

An investigation by theUS Justice Department found that Galvin, as Massachusetts Secretary of State, had violated theUniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act. The Office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth was found to have failed to collect and report data on absentee ballots sent, returned, and cast by overseas citizens and military personnel registered to vote in Massachusetts, as required by the law since amendments in 2002. The lawsuit was settled out of court, requiring Galvin to comply with the law.^[26]

On January 14, 2009, Galvin filed suit againstRobert Jaffe to compel Jaffe to testify about his role in theBernard Madoff investment scandal. Jaffe, who lives inWeston, Massachusetts and inFlorida, countered that he is actually one of the victims of Madoff.^[27] Jaffe is married to Ellen Shapiro, daughter of Boston philanthropist Carl Shapiro. Jaffe reportedly convinced the elder Shapiro to invest $250 million with Madoff about 10 days before Madoff's arrest.^[28][29]

In September 2021, Massachusetts regulators finedMassMutual $4 million for failing to supervise the trading activity of their employeeKeith Gill, a leading player in theGameStop short squeeze which led to hedge funds losing billions. Galvin characterised Gill as a professional trader/dealer, citing his 1,700 trades on behalf of three other individuals. However, Galvin failed to disclose that the three individuals were all members of Gill's family and that less than 5% of the 1,700 trades were for GameStop. Following his pursuit of litigation against Gill, it was reported that Galvin was engaging in partisan politics and had opposed bilingual ballots in contravention of theVoting Rights Act.^[30]

• McMorrow, Paul (January 11, 2012)."Historical roadblock: A standoff over the development of land in Freetown casts a spotlight on a little-known agency with an outsized role over development in Massachusetts".Commonwealth Magazine. Archived fromthe original on January 13, 2012 – viaWayback Machine.
• Atkinson, Dan (March 6, 2018)."Lawrence mayor says angry Bill Galvin told him: 'I made you mayor'".Boston Herald. RetrievedMarch 7, 2018.

Wikimedia Commons has media related toWilliam F. Galvin.

• Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts official page
• Galvin Campaign website
• Appearances onC-SPAN
• Profile atVote Smart

• 1950 births
• 21st-century American politicians
• Boston College alumni
• Living people
• Democratic Party members of the Massachusetts House of Representatives
• People associated with the Madoff investment scandal
• Politicians from Boston
• Secretaries of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts
• Suffolk University Law School alumni
• 20th-century members of the Massachusetts General Court

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