Maura Healey

Healey was born at Bethesda Naval Hospital, the eldest of five siblings, and grew up in an old New England farmhouse in Hampton Falls, New Hampshire. Her mother was a nurse and her stepfather was a high school teacher and coach.⁠[1][2]

She attended Harvard College, where she captained the women’s basketball team and started at point guard, graduating in 1992. She tried out for the U.S. women’s national team in high school and again after college, and then played professional basketball in Austria for two years.⁠[3][2][4]

Healey then attended Northeastern University School of Law, then clerked for a federal judge, worked as a junior partner at WilmerHale and served as a special assistant district attorney in Middlesex County.⁠[2]

Before becoming attorney general, she defended the buffer zone law around reproductive health centers, took action against predatory lenders and ran a program that helped homeowners modify loans and avoid foreclosure.⁠[2]

From 2009 Healey headed the civil rights division under then–Attorney General Martha Coakley and served as lead counsel in Massachusetts v. U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, a challenge to the federal Defense of Marriage Act. About a year after the case was filed, a federal judge in Boston ruled the law unconstitutional, and the U.S. Supreme Court reached the same conclusion three years later.⁠[3]

In the 2014 Democratic primary Healey defeated Warren Tolman 62 percent to 38 percent, and in the general election that year she defeated Republican John Miller by the same margin, becoming the first openly gay state attorney general in U.S. history. She was sworn in on January 21, 2015, pledging to run a “People’s Law Firm,” and was re-elected in 2018.⁠[3][2][4]

Her work in office covered the opioid and prescription drug epidemic, health care costs, workers’ rights, student loans, consumer protection and criminal justice reform. In 2015 she launched a Community Engagement Division that held community office hours, and her office offered six weeks of paid family leave to all employees.⁠[2]

During Donald Trump’s first presidency her office sued the federal government nearly 100 times, over issues including the travel ban, family separation at the border, contraception coverage, the Affordable Care Act, student loans, emissions rules and the 2020 census citizenship question. Her office’s legal opponents also included Purdue Pharma and the Sackler family, the NRA, Juul, Uber and Lyft, and Google and Facebook, and its Medicaid Fraud Division recovered nearly $300 million for MassHealth.⁠[3]

Healey launched her campaign for governor in January 2022 and won that year’s election, becoming the first woman and the first openly LGBTQ person elected governor of Massachusetts. She took office as the 73rd governor on January 5, 2023.⁠[3][4]

In the November 3, 2026, gubernatorial election Healey ran with Lieutenant Governor Kim Driscoll against Republican Mike MinogueMike MinogueMike Minogue (Michael Minogue) is an American businessman, Republican politician and U.S. Army veteran who led the medical device company Abiomed from 2004 to 2023. He was the Republican nominee in the 2026 Massachusetts gubernatorial election and lost to incumbent Governor Maura Healey on November 3.Open the full entry, with independent Andrea James also on the ballot. The Associated Press called the race for Healey one minute after polls closed, and CNNCNNCNN (Cable News Network) is an Atlanta-based news organization founded by Ted Turner on June 1, 1980, as the world’s first 24-hour television news channel. It has been owned in turn by Turner Broadcasting System, Time Warner, AT&T and Warner Bros. Discovery, became part of Skydance Corporation along with Warner Bros. Discovery in October 2026, and is one of the five networks that rotate in the White House television pool.Open the full entry projected her win at 8:06 p.m.⁠[5][6]

She became the second Massachusetts governor this century to win re-election, after Charlie Baker. That night she said, “Tonight’s a moment of hope and of action.”⁠[5]

As governor Healey signed the state’s first tax cuts in 20 years and established a universal child tax credit. On housing, she eliminated broker’s fees paid by renters and increased down payment support for first-time homebuyers.⁠[1]

In education and health care she made community college free for all residents, expanded vocational school seats and signed a maternal health bill. On reproductive health she signed a Shield Law protecting patients and providers and issued executive orders confirming protections for medication abortion and emergency abortion care, and in August 2026 she signed a bill expanding abortion access. She also expanded veterans’ benefits under the HERO Act.⁠[1][5]

Massachusetts Office of the Governor: Official website: https://www.mass.gov/orgs/office-of-the-governor (opens in a new window).⁠[7]

X: Public account: https://x.com/massgovernor (opens in a new window).⁠[7]

YouTubeYouTubeYouTube is Google’s video-sharing and creator platform, founded in 2005 by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim and acquired by Google in 2006. Built around video uploading, viewing, and creator earnings, the platform has developed Shorts, YouTube Music, Premium, YouTube TV, and products for children, and is headquartered in San Bruno, California, United States.Open the full entry: Public channel: https://www.youtube.com/massgovernor (opens in a new window).⁠[7]