Mike Kennealy, a Lexington Republican, speaks to potential voters in Monson as he seeks to unseat incumbent Democrat Maura Healy in the 2026 gubernatorial election.
Reminder Publishing photo by Sarah Heinonen
MONSON — While the 2026 gubernatorial election is still 15 months away, Republican candidate Mike Kennealy is wasting no time campaigning.
Appearing as the guest speaker at an Aug. 6 Quaboag Hills Chamber of Commerce networking event at the Monson Free Library, Kennealy shook hands and answered the questions of about 40 members of the chamber.
Prior to him speaking, many of those attending the event had not heard of Kennealy. “I want to hear what he thinks the important issues are,” said Ed Fisher, Jr., co-founder of Bucha Bros., an artisanal non-alcoholic kombucha company. For Fisher, who said he recently became a Democrat, the high levels of sometimes cumbersome regulation he sees in his industry is something he would consider in weighing the positions of gubernatorial candidates.
“My main concern is the cost of energy in the state. We have to do something about that,” said Monson Select Board Chair Peter Warren. He questioned why electricity rates had not been made more affordable by the proliferation of solar installations, which often sell electricity back to the grid.
Kennealy began by speaking about his career in the public sector, which included time spent working to improve Lawrence Public Schools and bringing them out of receivership. He was then Secretary of Housing and Economic Development under then-Gov. Charlie Baker.
Kennealy said he was tasked with helping to reopen the state’s economy in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. This gave him the opportunity to travel around the country, meeting with company CEOs to restart development.
Kennealy’s platform has three main pillars. The first is affordability. Kennealy said people are leaving the state because energy and goods are more affordable elsewhere. The second pillar of Kennealy’s platform is based on the idea that the state government is too large and Massachusetts functions best when a Republican governor serves as a balance against the majority-Democrat legislature. Finally, he said he wanted to improve the state’s educational outcomes and job growth.
A major through-line in Kennealy’s plan to tackle these issues is deregulation. On the candidate’s website, mikekennealy.com, he states that he plans to “identify and eliminate burdensome regulations” to business. He told listeners at the library event that the state’s regulations have put it at a “competitive disadvantage.” The deregulation and expansion of energy infrastructure is a cornerstone of Kennealy’s goal to lower energy prices in Massachusetts. The state’s average electricity rate is 27.4 cents per kilowatt-hour, nearly double the national average of 16.22 cents per kWh.
The candidate took particular aim at the Healey-Driscoll administration’s initiative to reach net-zero emissions by 2050. He told those at the event that the milestone was “aspirational” but took a harsher tone on his website, saying that Gov. Maura Healey is “padding her resume with radical, unrealistic climate goals.” When it comes to energy, he said he is “an all of the above person,” welcoming the expansion of all forms of energy infrastructure, from natural gas pipelines to solar and wind power. However, he has taken a stance against the ongoing offshore wind developments, which he said were “environmentally destructive.”
Kennealy agreed with the position of both Healey and Baker that the state is in a housing crisis. However, he said Healey has “weaponized” the MBTA Communities Act and he rejects the use of legislative “mandates” to spur developments. Kennealy said municipalities working with private developers was the key to increasing housing stock.
Asked about how deregulation might hurt people who are protected by the statutes, Kennealy said, “We need regulation to some degree, but you have to be thoughtful about it. You want to have a regulatory framework, but it can’t be burdensome.”
In terms of education, Kennealy said half of third graders cannot read at a proficient level. He dismissed 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress, known as “the nation’s report card,” which ranked Massachusetts schools as first in the country in reading and math. He said that finding is only because the nation, as a whole, is declining in achievement. States across the country have experienced educational attachment loses in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, and Massachusetts is no exception. While not outlining any particular initiative or ways to address this, Kennealy touted an increase in the graduation rate in Lawrence Public Schools from 52% to 72% during his time working on the district improvement team.
One person in the room asked if the school districts’ focus on the MCAS was behind the educational issues he saw. Instead of being related to MCAS, which was recently removed as a requirement for graduation, he said, “I think we’ve gotten complacent.” He said he supported evidence-based reading programs, which he said are underfunded. On the same topic, in 2024, Healey introduced a multi-year, $20 million Literacy Launch program and recently introduced a free, intensive literacy tutoring program.
Kennealy also presented the Healey administration as lacking in accountability and transparency. In 2024, voters approved an audit of the legislature, but it has yet to happen. On this, Kennealy has said, “There is perhaps no greater arrogance than to ignore the will of the voters.”
Kennealy was asked about his opinion of the Fair Share Amendment, legislation approved by voter referendum in 2022 that adds a 4% tax surcharge to personal income over $1 million. He said he disagreed with the law and felt it was driving high-income residents out of the state. Kennealy predicted that the surcharge, which brought in $2.2 billion for roads and schools in fiscal year 2024, would begin to see its gains shrink in the coming years. He said he would work to repeal the law.
Sitting down with Reminder Publishing after the event, the candidate was asked to square his aim of repealing the Fair Share Amendment with his statements about respecting the will of the voters. He said that as governor, he would follow the law and collect the funds but said he would offer an alternative to put before voters. “Leadership is about getting things done, but also about making your case,” Kennealy said. In the meantime, he said that the funds are used for “mundane” purposes. If the state is “stuck with it,” he said the wanted to do something “truly transformational” with the money.
On immigration, Kennealy said that he would work with the federal government to hand over immigrants sought by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. On his campaign website, he claimed that shelters have seen “thousands” of incidents involving “illegal immigrant rapists and violent criminals.”
To address the issue, he said he would “reverse every one of Maura Healey’s sanctuary policies.” However, on Aug. 5, the Department of Justice released a list of states with “sanctuary policies,” which did not include Massachusetts. Asked which policies he would specifically change, Kennealy said he would seek an amendment to the state’s right-to-shelter law, which provides shelter to be offered to unhoused people. He said he would impose a residency requirement, so only people living in the state would be entitled to shelter. Healey made a similar proposal to the Legislature in January, seeking statutory residency requirements for families and strengthening criminal background checks.
Someone asked Kennealy how he differs from other Republicans running for governor. He said that most Republicans are pro-business, but he is the only one with “12 years full time” in public service.
After listening to the candidate speak, Robert Pallister said, “I’m not a fan of [Kennealy’s] stance on clean energy. We only have one planet.” In Washington state, where he lived until 2023, electric utilities source an average of 73% of their power from renewable resources and rates are about 20% lower than the national average. That said, Pallister liked Kenneally’s educational background, noting that he moved to Massachusetts for the quality of its schools.
Michael Lachenmeyer was not impressed with Kennealy. He took a particularly dim view of the candidate’s opinion of the Fair Share Amendment. “Wealth inequality is a major issue in Massachusetts,” said Lachenmeyer, who plans to mount a primary challenge to state Rep. Angelo Puppolo in 2026. Overall, Lachenmeyer said Kennealy was “not satisfactory to this Democrat.”
When asked who she would support in next year’s election, Lisa Marulli simply said, “I want whoever wins to maintain the values of the Constitution of the United States.”
