Primary Night: Mass Effect: Massachusetts goes to the polls Tuesday for the second-to-last primary night of the 2022 cycle, with polls closing at 8 PM ET for what the Boston Globe characterizes as a “bizarre and mostly sleepy state primary.”
While it originally looked like there would be a crowded Democratic nomination fight to succeed Republican Gov. Charlie Baker, who announced his retirement in December of last year, Attorney General Maura Healey lost her only intra-party opponent in June when state Sen. Sonia Chang-Díaz ended her campaign. Republicans have an unsettled contest between Trump’s candidate, former state Rep. Geoff Diehl, and wealthy businessman Chris Doughty. However, since every poll shows Healey easily beating each Republican, it may not matter much who emerges on Tuesday.
The Democratic primary for secretary of state has been a bit more eventful, but two new YouGov polls for different colleges show seven-term incumbent Bill Galvin well positioned to fend off Boston NAACP head Tanisha Sullivan. The survey for UMass Lowell puts Galvin ahead 56-21, while UMass Amherst shows him fending off Sullivan by a smaller, though still wide, 49-30 margin. The winner should have no trouble prevailing in the fall in this very blue state.
Finally, Democrats have a tumultuous primary to serve as district attorney for dark blue Suffolk County, which is home to Boston and the nearby communities of Chelsea, Revere, and Winthrop. Baker appointed Kevin Hayden in early January to succeed Rachael Rollins, a criminal justice reformer who left to become U.S. attorney for Massachusetts.
Boston City Councilor Ricardo Arroyo quickly announced a challenge, and he earned endorsements from prominent progressives like Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey, Rep. Ayanna Pressley, and Boston Mayor Michelle Wu. That quartet, though, all withdrew their support on Wednesday a week after the Globe reported that the challenger was twice accused, but never charged, with sexual assault while he was in high school in the mid-2000s. Arroyo has denied the allegations, but the woman who accused him in 2005 says she stands by what she told the police back then.