In their first general election debate last week, Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker largely agreed with his Democratic rival, Jay Gonzalez, on property tax relief for senior citizens.
That topic came from a submitted question from the public.
The candidates meet for their second debate on Wednesday. We cover that and more of what to expect in the week ahead with Matt Murphy of the State House News Service.
Matt Murphy, State House News Service: I would expect that you will see a lot of the same topics covered. I mean, they did cover a lot of ground and you saw a lot of areas of disagreement. The one thing I think that jumped out to me was the way Jay Gonzalez and Charlie Baker didn't necessarily have a lot of fundamental disagreements about policy issues. I'm sure there are differences there. But Jay's main critique of the governor has been that he's not doing enough [and] not doing what he is doing, fast enough.
This applies to the MBTA and expansion of rail service to other parts of the state. This applies to the environment. It applies to opioids. Jay Gonzalez is really trying to say that the governor is not doing enough. But you know the governor acquitted himself well -- he had some good responses for that. And I would expect to see more of the same when they get together this week.
Carrie Healy, NEPR: Looking to another statewide race, incumbent U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren and her Republican opponent Geoff Diehl will be debating later in the week. In 2016, Diehl served as Donald Trump's Massachusetts campaign co-chair. In the wake of the Kavanaugh Senate hearings, what are some of the issues that Diehl is going to try to sway independent voters?
Yeah, I think what you're going to see Diehl do is what Elizabeth Warren sort of played right into when she had her event in Holyoke a few weeks ago, and basically admitted that she was going to take a hard look at running for president -- probably something we all kind of knew or anticipated already.
But it's what the Geoff Diehl campaign has been saying for some time now, that she's not interested in representing Massachusetts -- that she's out there campaigning around the country. And we've continued to see that. She was down in Georgia campaigning for Stacey Abrams, a woman who is running a competitive race to potentially be the first black governor of the state of Georgia.
So grateful for the support of @SenWarren, who has shown time and again her commitment to economic prosperity for all. I look forward to working with Sen. Warren to build a Georgia where everyone has the freedom & opportunity to thrive. https://t.co/cIl4r2NFCT #TeamAbrams #gapol pic.twitter.com/xkxtgQyRkq
— Stacey Abrams (@staceyabrams) June 25, 2018
So, he is going to say that Warren is more focused on her national ambitions than representing the people of Massachusetts. Elizabeth Warren doesn't seem too concerned with this line of attack. I mean, [if she was concerned] she probably wouldn't have gone out there, and in what seemed to be a pretty planned answer to a question about 2020, when she admitted that she was going to be looking at running. She has not been up on TV running ads. I mean, she's really focused on Donald Trump and her work. So, I think it will be an interesting dynamic to see her actually forced to interact with Geoff Diehl, who she's largely ignored so far during this campaign.
There was a UMass Lowell-Boston Globe survey released last week that showed Warren is holding a double digit lead in the race, despite saying that she might, you know, toy with a presidential race in 2020. Other than that issue, how is Diehl possibly going to set himself apart from Warren?
Yeah, I mean it is interesting. We've seen polling suggesting Massachusetts voters don't want her to run for president. [It was] in the low 30s [percent], I think, of people who were encouraged and excited about that prospect. But at the same time, head-to-head against Diehl, she also has a huge commanding lead. But Diehl is probably going to talk about taxes.
Elizabeth Warren wants to raise your taxes while trying to reduce her own tax burden. @OANN’s @NeilWMcCabe’s coverage with Republican Nominee for U.S. Senate Geoff Diehl on Warren's charitable tax deductions.https://t.co/JL0UtkRsv8 via @YouTube #mapoli #masen #masen2018 #magop
— Diehl For MA (@DiehlForMA) October 6, 2018
I mean, he's been hitting Elizabeth Warren for her positions on taxes, and he's going to highlight his effort to that successful ballot campaign that he ran to uncouple the gas tax from the inflation rate, basically staving off future gas tax increases. So, I expect him to talk about that.
I don't think you'll see him talk too much about Donald Trump. He doesn't seem to talk too much on the campaign trail about his ties to that campaign, though he does defend the president in most circumstances when asked. But he hasn't made it a centerpiece of his campaign. Warren may try and push that issue a little more.
