WHEN SONIA CHANG-DIAZ challenged Maura Healey to agree to a series of three televised debates prior to the Democratic state convention in June, some political analysts dismissed the move as an attempt by a struggling candidate to gain ground on a better known and better financed rival.
There may be some truth to that analysis, but Chang-Diaz puts forward another theory — that voters deserve to know where the two Democratic candidates for governor stand on the major issues of the day.
“This is standard-issue stuff,” Chang-Diaz said of her call for debates. “There are real differences between the attorney general and me.”
Chang-Diaz, a state senator from Jamaica Plain, points out that Healey herself called for monthly primary debates when she first ran for attorney general in 2014. And the Democratic gubernatorial primary race in 2018 featured three debates as well.
Healey’s campaign responded to Chang-Diaz’s challenge with a vague promise to debate, but didn’t say when she would debate or how many times she would debate. Chang-Diaz’s campaign called the response a dodge.
The back and forth exchanges were fairly standard stuff in a race between a clear frontrunner and a challenger. But they also underscored the cautious campaign that Healey appears to be running.
Chang-Diaz is fond of pointing out that she jumped into the race for governor before Gov. Charlie Baker made his decision not to seek reelection, while Healey waited until the popular Republican governor bowed out before declaring her candidacy.
Chang-Diaz’s candidacy is all about introducing herself to voters, but Healey is acting as if everybody already knows where she stands. A recent Boston Globe story noted Healey’s campaign is “long on advantages” and “short on specifics.”
After nearly eight years as attorney general, Healey is a known commodity, to some extent. We know she sued former president Donald Trump a lot. We know she went after the Sackler family and Purdue Pharma in court. And we know she suggested the protests sweeping the nation after George Floyd’s killing in 2020 might yield long-term benefits. “Yes, America is burning. But that’s how forests grow,” she said.
Those stances and comments reveal a lot about Healey, but voters need more from a candidate for governor. A governor deals with a multitude of issues, from education funding to public transportation, from prisons to the State Police, from public health to climate change. Sorting out where candidates stand is what campaigns are all about.
Chang-Diaz’s campaign website has the standard issues page, where you can read about the candidate’s stances on education, climate change, racial justice, housing, economic justice, health care, transportation, policing, gender equality, LGBTQ+ rights, and voting rights.
Healey’s campaign website, by contrast, includes the video announcing her candidacy for governor and sections devoted to fundraising and recruiting supporters. With a little over two months to go until the Democratic state convention in Worcester, there is no tab yet for issues on Healey’s campaign website.
