Gov. Maura Healey, GOP's Mike Minogue to face off in second general election debate

Tim Dunn, Boston Herald on Oct 14, 2026

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Democratic Gov. Maura Healey and her Republican challenger Mike Minogue will go head-to-head in their second and final debate live on WCVB-TV Thursday night as the general election is less than three weeks away.

The main thing to look for in Thursday’s matchup will be to see if Healey either pulls back or continues her strategy of tying Minogue to President Trump and what her supporters would call the worst aspects of his administration.

Healey mentioned Trump over 30 times during last week’s debate on WBZ-TV, taking just nine seconds to mention him for the first time. It was something Minogue appeared to counter successfully by reaffirming his concern for Massachusetts and not national partisan political issues.

“You know, as I look at the situation right now that people are in, Donald Trump is driving costs up every single day with his tariffs, with his war which is raising the cost of everything from gas to groceries and also he’s gutting funding, gutting health care and making life more expensive and more difficult for everyone,” Healey said in her opening monologue.

“I just want to be really clear here: my opponent is somebody who wrote a million-dollar check to Donald Trump. He saw what Donald Trump did in his first term and said, ‘I want more of that.’ He invited JD Vance to his house,” Healey said later in the debate. “My opponent is someone who supports Donald Trump’s agenda, which has been raising costs.”

Minogue slammed Healey for the constant deflections to Trump the day following the debate, saying the tactic proves she lacks accountability for the issues facing Massachusetts under her watch.

“If your record is last in everything and most expensive in everything, you’ve got to talk about something else other than your record. But what’s interesting is we got 25 days left. Now she’s going to try to help something,” Minogue told the Herald.

It’s a calculated campaign strategy that Healey hopes will pay off as she appeals to her Democratic base, one that is in no short supply in deep blue Massachusetts. If she uses Trump to motivate enough of her base to support her at the polls, it could be all Healey needs to secure reelection. This tactic has also been used by the likes of Sen. Ed Markey, who mentioned Trump a whopping 46 times during his debate on Tuesday, also on WBZ-TV, against GOP challenger John Deaton.

Viewers can expect Minogue to drill Healey on Wednesday’s breaking news surrounding the arrest of the governor’s disgraced former aide, LaMar Cook, on federal SNAP fraud charges as he awaits trial on state-level gun and drug trafficking charges.

Minogue had brought up Cook in last week’s debate, along with the $2 billion state contract for a new Springfield courthouse awarded to two politically connected bidders, to call out what he describes as a lack of integrity on Healey’s part.

Healey took offense to this during the debate, telling Minogue to “never question” her integrity.

Minogue expanded on this during a Wednesday afternoon press conference outside the State House, where he slammed the governor for not taking accountability for Cook’s federal arrest that morning.

“In the real world, when you have bad results and you get feedback, you don’t get to say it’s an integrity attack and everything,” Minogue told reporters.

“If she wants to take that as a shot at her integrity, that’s the real-world results. She is not holding anyone accountable. When the general manager of the MBTA pulled a woman’s hair, didn’t get fired, and taxpayers had to pay $500,000. That money should be paid by that individual. Why should taxpayers pay for that?” he said.

The candidates will also be expected to spar on expected topics surrounding soaring energy prices, general affordability issues in Massachusetts, severely high rates of outmigration among businesses and residents, and more.

The debate, which airs live on WCVB-TV from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. will be hosted by the news station in partnership with WBUR and the Boston Globe.

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