Short takes: It’s Baker vs. Healey (in state Senate race) 

IT WAS THE MARQUEE showdown for governor that never happened. 

For months, Republican Charlie Baker kept political watchers guessing whether he’d seek a third term as governor. On the Democratic side, all eyes were on the state’s two-term attorney general, Maura Healey, as the presumptive favorite for her party’s gubernatorial nomination, but she was in no hurry to show her hand. 

Many speculated that Healey was waiting to see what the state’s popular governor would do, and was not eager to go head-to-head against him. Finally, in December 2021, Baker announced that he wouldn’t run again. The next month Healey said she was in, and she barely broke a sweat on her way to an easy victory, becoming the first woman elected to the corner office. 

Now, in something of a proxy battle for the gubernatorial match-up that never was, Baker and Healey are on opposite sides in a special election for state Senate that may test the strength of their respective brands. 

Over the summer, Healey endorsed Democratic state Rep. Jon Zlotnik of Gardner, who is vying in the November 7 election for the seat vacated by Democrat Anne Gobi when she joined the Healey administration. This week, Baker, now president of the NCAA, threw in with Zlotnik’s Republican opponent, state Rep. Peter Durant of Spencer. 

In a recent analysis of voting patterns in the Central Mass. district, political data cruncher Brent Benson showed why the race is a toss-up by the numbers. “Given that the fundamentals point to an evenly split race,” he wrote in CommonWealth, other, less tangible factors, such as candidate quality and voter outreach efforts “will likely be the determining factors in the Worcester and Hampshire state Senate race.” 

Add to that mix of determining factors competing endorsements from the state’s current and former governor. 

At odds in City Hall, rivals unite behind State House lawmaker

When it comes to political battles in Boston, Michelle Wu and Marty Walsh can often be found on opposite sides.

Voters haven’t seen a head-to-head ballot royale, due to the former mayor’s departure for the Biden administration in 2021. As Wu topped the mayoral preliminary and headed towards a November victory that year, Walsh publicly stayed out of the fray, though he messaged fellow Dorchester resident Annissa Essaibi George wishing her well the day before her election loss to Wu.

With Walsh now atop the NHL players union, he’s returned to politicking, endorsing Jose Ruiz, once a member of his mayoral security detail, for the City Council’s District 5 seat representing Hyde Park and Roslindale. Wu is backing Enrique Pepen, a former City Hall aide who topped the ticket in the September’s preliminary, in the race. 

But Wu and Walsh were recently on the same side, or at least together at the top of a fundraising invitation, for Rep. Chris Worrell, a Dorchester Democrat, this fall. They joined former acting mayor Kim Janey on the invite to a September 24 fundraiser inside a real estate developer’s Dorchester home.

Before he won the House seat in 2022, Worrell worked for the Boston Planning and Development Agency under Wu, Janey, and Walsh.

Wu attended the fundraiser, as did a number of current and former elected officials, including Rep. Aaron Michlewitz, the chairman of the House budget committee. (Janey and Walsh were both traveling and couldn’t make it themselves.)

When a reporter noted the rarity of having both Wu and Walsh on the same fundraiser invite, the Dorchester native chuckled and said he is known as a bridge-builder. “I remember growing up, this person might have a beef with that person on this street, but I was cool with both of them,” Worrell said. “That’s the same attitude I have now.”

Boston liquor license bill on the move

Weeks after some state lawmakers questioned Boston’s bid for more liquor licenses, a bill that would bring 250 such licenses to certain ZIP codes has taken another step forward.

Rep. Worrell, the sponsor of the House bill, said the Consumer Protection Committee favorably reported out the legislation, and its next stop is Ways and Means. Asked about a timeline for passage, Worrell said, “I’m feeling confident and trusting the process.”

Worrell and other supporters, including Mayor Michelle Wu, have said the licenses are a way to build generational wealth, as well as bring more dining options to neighborhoods beyond Boston’s wealthier areas. The proposed ZIP codes include Dorchester, Mattapan, and Roxbury neighborhoods.

A liquor license can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, a figure driven by scarcity.

During an October 3 committee hearing, some lawmakers noted that Boston had received 75 licenses in 2014. But city officials argued there aren’t enough. Their contention was backed up by Lesley Delaney Hawkins, chair of the Prince Lobel law firm’s restaurant and the hospital industry group. “The demand for licenses is higher than I’ve ever seen in the city of Boston,” she said, according to the State House News Service.