A primary election for the Republican gubernatorial candidates in Massachusetts would have been a meaningful exercise had Mike Minogue not thrown his hat in the ring. Mike Kennealy and Brian Shortsleeve seemed to be almost the same candidate to me, only the latter had hair. They even shared a nearly identical margin of loss at the GOP convention a few weeks ago, with Kennealy coming up just short of the necessary votes to make the primary ballot.
If they were the only two Republican candidates in the race, the primary would have been a toss-up.
But with Minogue in the race, and presumably far ahead, the primary is now an exercise in futility.
It’s actually worse than futility. It’s self-defeating.
Shortsleeve has every right to stay in the race and try to defeat Minogue in the primary. And voters have every right to make that choice for themselves.
He also reserves the right to do the RIGHT thing and drop out, saving us a repeat of the cannibalization of the MassGOP that took place in the 2022 gubernatorial election.
Shortsleeve and his supporters argue that Minogue is too right-wing to win in Massachusetts.
Minogue’s weekend appearance on WCVB’s “On The Record” stirred up headlines after he was asked about continued access to abortion methods should he be elected governor.
“As governor, I know what the law is and I’m going to uphold the law,” said Minogue. He also made mention of options other than abortion to help expectant mothers plan for an unexpected child.
Pressed further for his specific stance on abortion, Minogue stood firmly on both feet.
“I’m a Catholic and I’m pro-life.”
No bullshit. No beating around the bush. He is who he is. He was asked about his personal beliefs and how they would motivate his policies. Minogue said he would uphold the law but also work to highlight other life-saving options for mothers instead of killing their unborn children.
Shortsleeve, on the other hand, released a written statement following Minogue’s appearance on WCVB.
“Shortsleeve: Minogue’s Anti-Choice Declaration Destroys GOP Chances in November,” reads the headline on Shortsleeve’s campaign website.
Anti-Choice? Isn’t that Democrat-speak for pro-life?
Is Shortsleeve a Republican masquerading as a Democrat, or is it the other way around?
Either way, abortion wasn’t an issue of this race, at least it shouldn’t have been for the Republican primary.
So why is Shortsleeve doing the work of Democrats and trying to sour voters on Minogue?
The obvious answer is that he’s trying to win a primary, of course, and mud-slinging toward Minogue’s candidacy has been a tradition of this campaign. Ask to see my text message history from the past few months as a declared delegate. Over half of the messages disparage Minogue.
But Shortsleeve’s methods only show me that he is an inauthentic candidate, one who is willing to bend the truth and wear a bit of a mask to cajole any independent voters who may be too timid to vote for an actual Republican.
To boot, Shortsleeve is doing Maura Healey’s dirty work for her. Posing Democrat-backed questions to a fellow candidate, instead of talking about their differences in approach to the issues in this state that are driving people out.
In taking this chosen path, Shortsleeve is leading the Massachusetts Republican Party to yet another great divide. By not dropping out, he is creating division between the two GOP camps. Should he lose the primary, I suspect a great many of his supporters would fail to show up to the polls for Minogue in the general election. The same result may be expected of Minogue supporters should Shortsleeve win.
During his appearance on The Howie Carr Show earlier this week, Shortsleeve was very quick to point out former Senatorial and Gubernatorial candidate Geoff Diehl’s losses to Elizabeth Warren and Maura Healey, respectively.
“That convention (MassGOP) has a terrific record of very enthusiastically endorsing general election losers,” said Shortsleeve. “Geoff Diehl broke 70 (%) three times at that convention. [He] Couldn’t get to 30% in the general election.”
I like Geoff Diehl. I’ve never had any personal or policy issues with him. He’s a nice guy, as far as I can tell.
But he came across as a feckless mope in his debates with Warren and Healey. Nice doesn’t play well on TV.
And his primary challenger in 2022, Chris Doughty, had all the charisma of a wet mop, making Diehl look like a member of KISS in their prime in comparison.
With Minogue, Massachusetts Republicans finally have a charismatic candidate who shares the same core values of a large swath of the party and isn’t afraid to defend them when asked. He speaks with conviction and has shown that he won’t weasel out of what could be a controversial answer by saying what he thinks people want to hear.
So Brian, let’s not have a repeat of 2022. I know the MassGOP still isn’t at the unified level that we want it to be, but you staying in this race isn’t helping to bridge that gap.
Let’s unify the party before it splits even further. You and Minogue are both fighting the same fight, only he has the resources to stay in it through the very end.