THE NORMALLY tight-lipped super PAC with close ties to Gov. Charlie Baker is crowing about its performance in this week’s primary.
The Massachusetts Majority PAC spent $171,432 supporting 12 Democrats and three Republicans in their respective primaries – and all 15 emerged victorious. Nine of them were essentially elected because they face no opponent in the final election.
Gregg Lisciotti, the chairman of the super PAC, said he was proud of the effort to help elect or re-elect what he called “a bipartisan slate of political centrists.”
“Massachusetts Majority has more than $1.4 million in cash on hand heading towards the general election, and will continue to invest in commonsense candidates that represent the viewpoints of the majority of our Commonwealth’s citizens,” Lisciotti said in a statement.
The crowing comes as Baker, who has helped raise a lot of the super PAC’s money since it was launched in 2019, is preparing to step down after eight years in office. Baker himself did little to support candidates in Tuesday’s primary election, endorsing only one politician – GOP auditor candidate Anthony Amore.
The super PAC’s “political centrists” included Democratic district attorney candidates Kevin Hayden in Suffolk County and Tom Quinn in Bristol and GOP district attorney candidate Dan Higgins from the Cape and Islands.
Two of the “commonsense candidates” included Sen. Walter Timilty of Milton and Rep. Paul Donato of Medford, who faced opponents challenging their opposition to abortion legislation. Timilty won fairly handily, while Donato barely eked out a victory.
The other incumbents the super PAC supported with digital and direct mail advertising were Republican Sen. Patrick O’Connor of Weymouth and Democratic Reps. John Barrett III of North Adams, Christopher Markey of Dartmouth, Russell Holmes of Boston, Joseph McGonagle of Everett, Bud Williams of Springfield, and William Galvin of Canton.
The political newcomers backed by the super PAC included Democratic rep candidates Simon Cataldo of Concord and Rodney Elliott of Lowell and Republican rep candidate Andrew Shepherd of Townsend.
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About Bruce Mohl
Bruce Mohl is the editor of CommonWealth magazine. Bruce came to CommonWealth from the Boston Globe, where he spent nearly 30 years in a wide variety of positions covering business and politics. He covered the Massachusetts State House and served as the Globe’s State House bureau chief in the late 1980s. He also reported for the Globe’s Spotlight Team, winning a Loeb award in 1992 for coverage of conflicts of interest in the state’s pension system. He served as the Globe’s political editor in 1994 and went on to cover consumer issues for the newspaper. At CommonWealth, Bruce helped launch the magazine’s website and has written about a wide range of issues with a special focus on politics, tax policy, energy, and gambling. Bruce is a graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. He lives in Dorchester.
About Bruce Mohl
Bruce Mohl is the editor of CommonWealth magazine. Bruce came to CommonWealth from the Boston Globe, where he spent nearly 30 years in a wide variety of positions covering business and politics. He covered the Massachusetts State House and served as the Globe’s State House bureau chief in the late 1980s. He also reported for the Globe’s Spotlight Team, winning a Loeb award in 1992 for coverage of conflicts of interest in the state’s pension system. He served as the Globe’s political editor in 1994 and went on to cover consumer issues for the newspaper. At CommonWealth, Bruce helped launch the magazine’s website and has written about a wide range of issues with a special focus on politics, tax policy, energy, and gambling. Bruce is a graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. He lives in Dorchester.
Maura Healey, who is running to replace Baker as governor and had no opponent in the Democratic primary, lent her support mostly to candidates running statewide. But her endorsements in down-ballot races overlapped with the Massachusetts Majority PAC on two candidates – Donato and Markey.
Super PACs can raise and spend unlimited amounts of money, but they are barred from coordinating with the campaigns they support.
