BOSTON — Big money backing Republican gubernatorial candidate Mike Minogue is shifting tactics in the final stretch of the Massachusetts governor’s race, turning its fire on independent Andrea James and raising questions about whether the effort is aimed at peeling progressive voters away from Democratic Gov. Maura Healey.
The spending war spans both sides of the race, and Minogue has made a point in recent media appearances to point to a Healey-affiliated super PAC that has been spending heavily in the days leading up to Election Day.
“We know it’s a tight race, so does the opposition. They know,” Minogue told reporters in Boston on Wednesday. “The national Democrat Governors Association is now spending thirty to sixty thousand dollars a day on social media to prop her up and attack me. They know it’s close.”
A Democratic Governors Association-affiliated super PAC supporting Healey called the Commonwealth for Tomorrow Independent Expenditure PAC has spent $585,000 on efforts opposing Minogue since late June, while Google ad data show Healey-aligned spending ramping up in the campaign’s final weeks. The PAC’s money went to polling, “research services,” and a digital media buy in mid-October costing $250,000 that paid for videos referring to “MAGA mega-donor Mike Minogue.”
The competing ads underscore how outside groups are trying to shape a race in which independent polling suggests Healey holds a substantial lead.
State law limits individual contributions to a candidate’s campaign committee to $1,000 per year, but a campaign vehicle known as a super PAC can accept individual contributions without those fundraising restrictions. They are not legally permitted to coordinate with the campaigns, and the candidates themselves are not behind these ads.
The Minogue-aligned Massachusetts First Independent Expenditure PAC has spent $1.3 million since late June, ramping up after September’s primary and recently targeting James in mailers and digital ads that label her as a socialist and liken her to New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani. “Governor Healey is a do-nothing liberal. Her opponent, Andrea James, is a do-everything socialist. James is the Massachusetts Mamdani,” says a video ad paid for by the PAC.
It shows James saying things like, “Housing for all. Healthcare for all. Childcare for all.”
The PAC’s chairman and largest donor, Minogue’s childhood friend Robert Neuner, told the News Service the strategy is intended to draw a sharper contrast between Minogue and “the platform of the left,” while a political analyst said the effort could be aimed at peeling progressive voters away from Healey.
James will be on the ballot as an independent but is running to Healey’s left, and has been running a much more limited campaign than Healey or Minogue, stymied by a much smaller warchest. The latest poll by UMass Lowell had James capturing 4% of the vote, to Minogue’s 29% and Healey’s 57%.
“One of the interesting ties in the ad is about linking her to Zohran Mamdani. National polls have shown that Mamdani is actually very popular with Democrats writ large. Our poll, in particular, shows that he is viewed quite favorably by people in Massachusetts,” said John Cluverius, a political science professor at UMass Lowell, who said the UMass Lowell poll released Wednesday night “absolutely” backs up swirling speculation that the sudden focus on James is meant to split Democrats’ vote.
Asked whether that was the intention of the mailers and digital ads, Neuner replied, “Well, you know, we’re giving people information that they should have.”
“It’s not splitting the vote,” Neuner said. “It’s just that people need to make informed decisions at the ballot, and I think this makes a better distinction that Mike’s the best candidate. It’s not — there’s no hidden agenda here.”
Neuner said the focus on James is about showing voters “the overall direction that Massachusetts is going in.”
“Like, Healey is, we believe, a very overly liberal candidate, but the fact that an even more liberal candidate can get on the ballot just kind of shows us the direction Massachusetts is going in,” Neuner said. “And Michael wants to have Massachusetts be more centrist.”
The first James-focused mailer sent to households with registered Democrats lists James’s policy positions, including “End all state cooperation with ICE,” “Implement rent control and tax the rich,” and “Provide free childcare and healthcare.”
A recent round of flyers compares James, Healey and Minogue. It says James is a “Socialist-endorsed candidate. Supports free childcare and healthcare. Fighting for rent control.” Healey is described as “Beacon Hill’s endorsed candidate. Increased costs for healthcare and housing. Opposes capping rent increases.” Under Minogue’s name is, “Combat veteran and businessman. Pledges to cut taxes and create jobs. Has a plan to lower housing costs.”
“If you take the word socialism out of it, it highlights all of James’s positions that are actually popular among self-identified Democrats,” Cluverius said, referring to high favorability among Democrats in polling for issues like building more affordable housing and limiting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s reach in Massachusetts. “Those are things it highlights — these positions, anti-ICE, pro-housing. But what it in particular doesn’t mention are her stances on prison abolition or crime, which are a lot less popular even among progressives.”
Neuner is the chairman of the PAC. He grew up with Minogue in Franklin Lakes, New Jersey, he told the News Service, and founded Boost Oxygen. He now lives in Darien, Connecticut. He’s given $500,000 to the PAC since September and $1 million overall since last year.
Other big donors since the primary include Arthur S. Demoulas, former president of Market Basket, now of Ten Mountain Capital ($100,000) and Paul Fireman, former CEO of Reebok ($50,000). Matthew Daniels, a real estate executive at JLL and his wife, Jennifer, who together donated $100,000, live in South Hamilton near Minogue.
When asked what recent polling data reveals about this campaign tactic from the Minogue-affiliated PAC, Cluverius pointed to Healey’s approval ratings.
Her job approval is at 60% overall, but about 13% of voters who cast ballots for Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris in the last election disapprove of the job Healey is doing, per the poll.
“That’s not a small group, that sort of Healey-frustrated Democrats,” Cluverius said. “But at the same time, it’s unlikely to be enough to move someone into the column for a Republican or into the column of James.”
Breaking down gubernatorial support in the poll by how voters cast ballots in the last presidential election, Cluverius said 87% of Harris voters plan to vote for Healey, 5% said they’ll vote for Minogue, and 3% said they’re voting for James.
“So James’s support comes from people who voted for other candidates or didn’t vote in 2024,” he said. “I would say too, on a whole, I would not expect reliable Democratic voters to really peel away for James.”
Asked if he thinks he’s helping James get her message out when her own resources have been limited, Neuner pointed out that James was not included in either of the two televised debates between Minogue and Healey.
“We thought she was going to be allowed onto the debate stage,” he said, “and actually that would have been a really great distinction to show with Michael and what he’s proposing for the state. There’s three choices for governor, and people would know about how she feels.”
Sam Drysdale is a reporter for State House News Service and State Affairs Pro Massachusetts. Reach her at [email protected].
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