Maura Healey

Maura Tracy Healey was born on February 8, 1971, in Allston, Massachusetts, and grew up in Hampton, New Hampshire. She is one of five children. She attended Harvard College, graduating with a degree in Social Studies in 1992, and then pursued a professional basketball career overseas, playing in Austria and Germany. She later earned her law degree from Northeastern University School of Law.

After law school, Healey joined a private law firm before moving to the Massachusetts Attorney General's office as an assistant attorney general in 2007. She rose quickly through the civil rights division, handling cases involving consumer protection, discrimination, and LGBTQ rights. In 2014, she ran for Attorney General, winning the Democratic primary and then the general election with 60% of the vote. She was re-elected in 2018 with 72% of the vote — one of the strongest AG re-election performances in state history.

As Attorney General, Healey built a national profile as one of the most aggressive Democratic state AGs in the country. She was among the leaders of multi-state coalitions challenging Trump administration policies including the travel ban, the rollback of environmental regulations, and the family separation policy at the border. She sued Purdue Pharma over the opioid crisis, reaching a landmark settlement, and pursued ExxonMobil over alleged climate deception. She was widely credited with turning the Massachusetts AG's office into a major national force in Democratic state-level legal activism.

Healey announced her gubernatorial campaign in 2022, entering as an immediate frontrunner in a state where incumbent Republican Governor Charlie Baker had decided not to seek a third term. She won the Democratic primary comfortably and then won the general election against Republican Geoff Diehl — a Trump-endorsed candidate — with approximately 63% of the vote, a margin of roughly 30 points.

Her governorship has focused substantially on housing affordability — Massachusetts faces one of the most severe housing cost crises in the nation — along with climate polling, education funding, and managing a significant surge in migrant arrivals that strained the state's shelter system in 2023 and 2024. The migrant crisis created one of the more difficult political moments of her first term, forcing her to impose a cap on emergency shelter beds, a decision that drew criticism from immigrant advocates but reflected the limits of state resources. She has navigated the challenge with an emphasis on practical problem-solving over ideological posturing.

Healey is running for re-election as Massachusetts governor in 2026. Massachusetts has elected Republican governors in recent decades despite being one of the most Democratic states in the country — Charlie Baker, Mitt Romney, and William Weld all won the governorship as Republicans. However, the shift in the national Republican Party under Trump has dramatically weakened the Republican brand in Massachusetts, and Healey is not expected to face the kind of competitive general election race those governors did.

Her approval rating of approximately 58% is strong for a Massachusetts Democrat navigating genuinely difficult issues including the migrant shelter crisis, the MBTA's persistent operational problems, and housing costs that continue to rank among the highest in the nation. Her re-election is considered very likely. A 2030 or 2032 scenario in which Massachusetts Democrats consider whether she runs for Senate or a national office is the longer-term political question around her career.

Nationally, Healey is among the Democratic governors being discussed as potential contributors to the party's post-2024 rebuilding effort. Her combination of executive experience, high-profile AG career, and historic significance as the first openly lesbian governor makes her a frequently mentioned figure in discussions of the Democratic Party's future leadership bench.