Is Democrat state Auditor Diana DiZoglio the new political royalty of the Commonwealth?
After her enormously successful re-election bid that saw nearly 84% of Massachusetts voters send her back to the Auditor’s Office and a ballot question she sponsored passing with a whopping 86% of the vote, DiZoglio is quickly becoming the most popular politician in Massachusetts.
DiZoglio finished Tuesday’s general election with 83.8% of the vote to Libertarian candidate Al Ozonoff’s 16.2%, according to unofficial results from the Associated Press with 99% of votes counted.
That gives the first-term Auditor the highest vote count of all statewide candidates on the ballot this year, including in both contested and uncontested races, finishing with 1,906,654 votes in her re-election bid.
“Auditor DiZoglio is deeply grateful to the voters who re-elected her. Especially after four years of relentless attacks on her character from the Beacon Hill establishment, it means a great deal to her that Democrats, Republicans, and unenrolled voters came together to support her efforts,” DiZoglio spokesperson Andrew Carden told the Herald
As for whether this translates into plans for higher office, Carden wouldn’t say.
“People across Massachusetts may disagree on plenty, but they agree that they deserve to know how their government operates and how their tax dollars are spent. As far as anything happening in four years, I’d ask her in four years,” Carden said. “Right now, she’s preparing for her audit lawsuit’s court date, which is a little over a week away.”
The next highest vote getter, Attorney General Andrea Campbell, finished with more than 200,000 fewer votes than DiZoglio, garnering 1,690,219 for 65.6% in her win over Republican Michael Walsh.
Sen. Ed Markey, whose popularity has skyrocketed among progressive Democrats through national exposure on federal issues, follows Campbell with 1,650,772 votes for 63.4% in his win over Republican John Deaton. Gov. Maura Healey slightly trails Markey with 1,625,487 votes for 62% in her victory over GOP challenger Mike Minogue.
The only other thing more popular among voters than DiZoglio herself was the ballot initiative she sponsored and ultimately got on the 2026 ballot, Question 1, which expands the state’s public records law to include the Governor’s Office and state Legislature. Question 1 was overwhelmingly approved by 2,200,493 Massachusetts voters, good enough for 85.9% of the vote.
DiZoglio’s immense popularity is underscored by her efforts to carry out the voter-approved Legislative audit, passed by 72% of voters in the 2024 election, as she has gained nearly unilateral bi-partisan support across the state.
Her efforts to carry out the Legislative audit were stymied by state lawmakers this year in both the House and Senate when they replaced the voter-approved law with their own resolutions, criticized by many as window-dressing that ultimately allows each respective branch to deny certain records and even end any ongoing audit.
House Speaker Ron Mariano (D-Quincy) and Senate President Karen Spilka (D-Ashland) routinely cited “constitutionality” concerns in their quest to reject the Legislative audit, an argument they repeated on Thursday when pressed by the Herald on whether lawmakers will comply with the public records law expansion the voters approved.
Spilka declined to answer questions on the public records law, tossing the reins to Sen. Cynthia Stone-Creem (D-Norfolk & MIddlesex), who said lawmakers will work to adhere to the will of voters while also “preserving the constitution.”
“We’ve heard the voters. We know exactly the same numbers you know, and we’re working hard to consider the wishes of the voters and really to also do what our constitution needs to be done. So I can’t say where that’s going to end, but we’re not tone deaf and we’re balancing their interests with the right to preserve the constitution,” said Creem.
When confronted by the Herald with the fact that Spilka and House Speaker Ron Mariano (D-Quincy) cited “constitutional concerns” as a means of denying compliance with the Legislative audit, Creem told the Herald lawmakers are “not playing any games with it.”
“I’m telling you that we’re working, we heard the voters and that’s what we’re working on,” she said.
Spilka’s office followed up on that press conference by sending the Herald a statement saying Legislative leadership “agrees” with voter demands for more transparency in state government.
DiZoglio told the Herald Wednesday that “there are already ongoing legislative efforts to overturn the public records law we just passed.
“Let me be clear: lawmakers should not interpret this election as an invitation to rewrite the law to protect themselves, yet again, from the public’s mandate. Voters were given a clear choice, and they made their decision. The people of Massachusetts deserve a government that operates in the sunlight,” DiZoglio continued.
Gov. Maura Healey has been criticized, particularly by DiZoglio, for not giving an earnest effort to support the Legislative audit.
“Governor Healey supported question one and will honor the will of the voters,” Healey spokesperson Jacqueline Manning told the Herald on Wednesday.
Massachusetts is the only state in the entire country where the Governor’s Office, the Judiciary and state Legislature are all exempt from the public records law. It’s a situation that has earned the state the dubious distinction of the Society of Professional Journalists’ “Black Hole” award this year for its lack of transparency.
Original article
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