Even in a year when women are expected to make strong political gains, there are no guarantees.

Beth Lindstrom, who came in third in the Republican primary for US Senate, and Gerly Adrien, who came in a close second in a Democratic primary for a state rep’s seat from Everett, explain why they ran for office and why they think they lost on CommonWealth’s Codcast, hosted by Democrat Jesse Mermell and Republican Jennifer Nassour.

Lindstrom says she faced both financial and political hurdles in her race against Geoff Diehl and John Kingston. She says she believes Massachusetts Republicans were open to her argument that she would back President Trump when he was right and oppose him when he was wrong, but she lacked enough campaign funds to get that message out.

Even in Massachusetts, she also faced long odds running as a moderate Republican in a GOP primary. She said Diehl, who won the primary with 55 percent of the vote, spent three years building his conservative base by leading the Trump campaign in Massachusetts and by appearing on supportive radio talk shows.

“How does a moderate woman ever get through a Republican primary?” she asked, noting that her views clashed with those in the GOP who are pro-life and Second Amendment absolutists.

Adrien, 29, says she felt like she was running against every politician in Everett, from the mayor on down to members of the school committee, all of whom came out in support of her opponent, incumbent Rep. Joseph McGonagle Jr. “Running against the whole establishment was tough,” she said.

Adrien nevertheless garnered 39 percent of the vote, 2 points behind McGonagle and 20 points ahead of the third candidate in the race, Steve Smith.

Nassour asked the two candidates whether they felt they fell victim to an old boys’ network in their campaigns.

Lindstrom says she didn’t feel as if an old boys’ network stood in her way, while Adrien recalled one instance when she was knocking on doors and was greeted by a woman who knew who she was. When Adrien asked whether she could count on the woman’s vote, the woman called out to her husband who told Adrien that McGonagle was a friend of the family and they would be voting for him.

“We’re still in that time,” Adrien said. “Her husband still spoke for her.”

BRUCE MOHL

BEACON HILL

Despite adding $475 million to the rainy day fund in the last budget yet, Massachusetts does not have enough reserves to weather even a mild recession. (Boston Globe)

MUNICIPAL MATTERS

A Lowell Sun editorial takes Lowell’s leaders — in particular City Solicitor Christine O’Connor — to task for letting a host of serious and expensive issues drift without resolution.

Weighing in on the battle between Quincy and Boston over rebuilding the Long Island Bridge and Mayor Marty Walsh’s plan to build a recovery center, representatives for Native Americans are looking to preserve burial grounds on the island which was used as an internment camp for indigenous people during the war between colonists and natives. (Patriot Ledger)

The Westport School Building Committee awarded a contract to demolish a middle school ad remove contaminated soil to a contractor connected to a federal fraud case for failing to pay overtime wages to union workers. (Standard-Times)

Sudbury has agreed to purchase the historic Broadacres Farm for $5.5 million, keeping it as agriculture and conservation land and blocking the potential for a developer to buy the property to build houses. (MetroWest Daily News)

WASHINGTON/NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL

After the Senate confirmed Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court over the weekend by the narrowest of margins in more than 170 years and he was sworn in, President Trump ramped up his criticism of the sexual assault allegations by claiming they were fabricated. (Washington Post)

Rick Gates, a top Trump campaign official who has pleaded guilty on charges from the special counsel on financial fraud and tax evasion, reportedly sought proposals from an Israeli company to create fake online personas to spread disinformation about Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election as well as sway convention delegates pledged to Sen. Ted Cruz. (New York Times)

ELECTIONS

The first of three gubernatorial debates between Charlie Baker and Jay Gonzalez is tonight, sponsored by WBZ-TV and moderated by Jon Keller. (Associated Press)

Lori Trahan, the Democratic nominee for the 3rd Congressional District, says the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh will motivate “outraged” women voters this fall to send a message. (Keller@Large)

Republican US Senate nominee Geoff Diehl says he thinks his underdog campaign against incumbent Elizabeth Warren is benefiting from a “Kavanaugh bump” — anger by voters at the way the Supreme Court nominee was treated, including by Warren. (Boston Herald)

Warren and Gov. Charlie Baker are in a delicate campaign dance, avoiding taking direct shots at each other even though each one has endorsed the challenger trying to take out the other. (Boston Globe)

Conservatives are upset that singer Taylor Swift announced she will vote for Democratic candidates, as many on the right were convinced she supported Trump and Republicans although there was never any indication that was true. (Washington Post)

Early voting has proven popular, though uneven, throughout the state but has also proven costly for cities and towns. (Wicked Local)

Judy Beal of Simmons College says Question 1’s mandatory nurse-staffing ratios are bad for health care and bad for nursing education. (CommonWealth) Patricia Ahern, the CEO of the largest hospice organization in the state, says the question will hurt her company by sapping its workers. (Salem News)

Transgender activists are going door-knocking and making the case personally to voters to support the November ballot question that would retain the state’s transgender rights law. (Boston Globe)

BUSINESS/ECONOMY

Columbia Gas says it will replace all appliances damaged during the September gas disaster. Previously, the company had said it would repair those that could be repaired. (Eagle-Tribune)

Google will shut down its Google+ social media site after discovery of a bug that exposed users’ private data. But the company reportedly discovered the bug last spring but opted to keep quiet rather than open itself to regulatory inquiry and reputation damage. (Wall Street Journal)

ARTS

An artist from Greece adds a 3D touch to a mural on the side of the Hanover Theatre for the Performing Arts as part of the Pow! Wow! Festival in Worcester. (Telegram & Gazette)

EDUCATION

With a trial about to begin over Harvard’s use of race in admissions, it turns out lots of colleges and universities are struggling over the same issue. (Boston Globe)

HEALTH/HEALTH CARE

John McDonough says it’s time for Gov. Charlie Baker to step up on health care and address a host of lingering issues. (CommonWealth) Meanwhile, Michael Widmer says Massachusetts is leading the way on reining in health care costs. (CommonWealth)

Susan Linn of the Epilepsy Foundation of New England says insurers shouldn’t be allowed to put a price cap on people’s lives. (CommonWealth)

Purdue Pharma takes out a full-page ad in the Wall Street Journal defending itself against claims by municipalities across the country that its marketing policies led to the opioid crisis. (Daily Item)

TRANSPORTATION

A limo that crashed and killed 20 people in the deadliest transportation-related accident in the country in nine years was deemed unsafe and the driver apparently did not have the proper license to operate the vehicle. (New York Times)

ENERGY/ENVIRONMENT

National Grid shut-off natural gas to about 300 customers in Woburn when it discovered a surge in gas pressure inadvertently caused by a worker doing maintenance work in the area. (Boston Globe) The state Department of Public Utilities ordered National Grid to stop all nonessential work following the incident. (Boston Herald)

The US offshore wind industry is already consolidating, as Orsted buys one of its main rivals, Deepwater Wind, for $510 million. (CommonWealth)

A dire climate change report lands with a thud on President Trump’s desk. (New York Times)

Repeated shutdowns and slowdowns at the Pilgrim nuclear power plant have cost Entergy about $63 million in lost revenues this year. (Cape Cod Times)

Environmental advocates on Monday protested a “sneaky” deal by Fall River’s Watuppa Water Board to sell water to a proposed fracked gas power plant in Rhode Island that had been turned away by other communities. (Herald News)

Bradley Campbell of the Conservation Law Foundation says the gas explosions in the Merrimack Valley show just how dangerous natural gas is as a fuel. (CommonWealth)

Cities nationwide are starting to launch green roof mandates, requiring plants or solar panels on most new construction. (Governing)

Get your hands dirty, plant a garden, says Charlie McCabe of the Trust for Public Land. (CommonWealth)

A Globe editorial says it’s time for Massachusetts communities to up their commitment to composting.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE/COURTS

The US attorney’s office has formally dismissed the 113-count indictment on charges of corruption against former state senator Brian Joyce, who was found dead in his Westport home last month. (Patriot Ledger)

Five people were shot and killed in Boston during the three-day period from Friday through Sunday. (Boston Globe)

A Herald editorial says convicted rapist Benjamin LaGuer, suffering from terminal liver cancer, should not be freed from prison under the state’s new compassionate release law because his crime was very serious. (Which is likely to define most of the offenses for which inmates looking to employ this law were convicted.)