Politics

Here are the races that made history in Massachusetts

“We have shattered glass ceilings tonight,” Attorney General-elect Andrea Campbell told supporters.

By Abby Patkin

November 9, 2022

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Massachusetts marked a historic moment on Tuesday night as Maura Healey became the first woman and first openly gay person elected governor in the Bay State.

But Healey wasn’t the only one who made history Tuesday: Attorney General-elect Andrea Campbell became the first Black woman to win statewide office in Massachusetts, while Secretary of State Bill Galvin is on track to become the longest-serving state secretary after winning an unprecedented eighth four-year term.

With Salem Mayor Kim Driscoll as lieutenant governor-elect, the state will also boast an all-female executive team for the first time. Massachusetts joins Arkansas — which just elected Republicans Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Leslie Rutledge — as the first in the nation to have women serving concurrently as governor and lieutenant governor.

Healey is also the first out lesbian governor in U.S. history, according to CNN, though Oregon’s Tina Kotek — who held a narrow lead Wednesday morning — could become a close second. 

“Tonight I want to say something to every little girl and every young LGBTQ person out there,” Healey told supporters at her victory party at the Fairmont Copley in Boston, according to The Boston Globe. “I hope tonight shows you that you can be whatever — whoever — you want to be.”

Women have made incremental progress in Massachusetts politics for decades, with just nine women having served in statewide office. 

On Tuesday, however, women won five of the six constitutional offices up for grabs.

“We have shattered glass ceilings tonight,” Campbell told supporters Tuesday night, according to the Globe. She said that women “will lead Massachusetts forward.”

“And it’s about damn time.”