2014 Massachusetts gubernatorial election

The 2014 Massachusetts gubernatorial election took place on November 4, 2014, to elect the Governor of Massachusetts, concurrently with the election of Massachusetts' Class II U.S. Senate seat, and other elections to the United States Senate in other states and elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections.

Incumbent Democratic Governor Deval Patrick was eligible to seek a third term but stated in January 2011 that he would not run for re-election. The office of lieutenant governor had been vacant since the resignation of Tim Murray in June 2013.

Primary elections for governor and lieutenant governor were conducted separately on September 9, 2014: the Democrats nominated Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley and former CEO of the Democratic National Convention Steve Kerrigan, and the Republicans nominated former state cabinet secretary and 2010 gubernatorial nominee Charlie Baker and former state representative Karyn Polito.

Baker defeated Coakley and three other candidates in the general election. This is the last Massachusetts gubernatorial election where the winning candidate did not win every county.

Candidates

 * Donald Berwick, former Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and CEO of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement
 * Martha Coakley, Attorney General of Massachusetts and nominee for U.S. Senate in 2010
 * Steven Grossman, Treasurer and Receiver-General of Massachusetts, former chairman of the Democratic National Committee and Massachusetts Democratic Party

Eliminated at convention

 * Joseph Avellone, executive at PAREXEL, former COO of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts and former chairman of the Wellesley board of selectmen
 * Juliette Kayyem, former Assistant U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security

Withdrew

 * Dan Wolf, State Senator from Harwich and CEO of Cape Air

Declined

 * Suzanne M. Bump, Massachusetts State Auditor (ran for re-election)
 * Mike Capuano, U.S. Representative from Somerville and candidate for U.S. Senate in 2010 (ran for re-election)
 * Mo Cowan, former U.S. Senator
 * Joseph Curtatone, Mayor of Somerville
 * Robert DeLeo, Speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives
 * Barney Frank, former U.S. Representative
 * Therese Murray, President of the Massachusetts Senate
 * Tim Murray, former Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts and former Mayor of Worcester
 * Carmen Ortiz, U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts
 * Deval Patrick, incumbent Governor of Massachusetts
 * Rick Sullivan, chief of staff to Governor Deval Patrick and former Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs and mayor of Westfield

Polling

 * With Capuano and Coakley


 * Without Coakley


 * With Coakley and Murray

Results
Bold denotes candidate met the minimum threshold of fifteen percent to appear on the primary ballot.



Declared

 * Leland Cheung, Cambridge city councilor and board member of the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative
 * Steve Kerrigan, former CEO of the Democratic National Convention
 * Michael Lake, candidate for state auditor in 2010

Eliminated at convention

 * James Arena-DeRosa, former United States Department of Agriculture administrator

Withdrew

 * Jonathan Edwards, Whately selectman

Results
Bold denotes candidate met the minimum threshold of 15 percent to appear on the primary ballot



Candidates

 * Charlie Baker, former state cabinet secretary and nominee for governor in 2010
 * Mark Fisher, businessman and Tea Party activist

Declined

 * Scott Brown, former U.S. Senator (ran for U.S. Senate in New Hampshire)
 * Gabriel E. Gomez, nominee for U.S. Senate in 2013
 * Karyn Polito, former state representative and nominee for state treasurer in 2010 (running for lieutenant governor)
 * Richard Tisei, former State Senate Minority Leader, nominee for lieutenant governor in 2010 and nominee for U.S. Representative in 2012 (ran for U.S. Representative)
 * William Weld, former governor
 * Daniel Winslow, former state representative and candidate for U.S. Senate in 2013

Campaign
At the Republican State Convention on March 22, 2014, Baker received 2,095 votes (82.708%), businessman and Tea Party activist Mark Fisher received 374 votes (14.765%) and there were 64 blank votes (2.527%). The threshold for making the ballot is 15% and the Party announced that Baker had thus received the nomination without the need for a primary election. However, Fisher argued that according to the Convention Rules, blank votes are not counted for the purposes of determining the winner and that he thus received 15.148%, enough to make the ballot. He sued the Massachusetts Republican State Committee and his case was due to be heard in Suffolk Superior Court between May 2 and June 18.

The committee's lawyer, Louis M. Ciavarra, said that in negotiations with the committee, Fisher declined their offer of being placed on the ballot, and instead asked for $1 million in return for dropping the suit. Ciavarra said that after it was pointed out to Fisher and his representatives that this would be illegal, they allegedly lowered their request to $650,000. Fisher's lawyer, Thomas M. Harvey, has confirmed that Fisher had asked for $1 million, which he called a "starting point", saying that Fisher should be "compensated" for his efforts, in addition to receiving a place on the ballot. He later said that the request for $650,000 was "still negotiable" and added that "you don't ask for what you expect". Fisher himself has denied asking for a "payoff", instead saying that party officials had offered him a "bribe" in December 2013 in return for dropping out. He refused to say who made the offer, claiming to have been under a gag order, though no such order existed. He said that he only asked for $1 million during the negotiations because he had been asked for a figure and it was the sum that he claimed the party had offered to him. He further denied the claim that he had offered to withdraw in exchange for the money, saying that he wanted a place on the ballot, for the State Committee to release the "tally sheets" which he claims show that he rightfully won a place on the ballot, and to be reimbursed $100,000 in damages: for the cost of legal fees and of collecting signatures to make the ballot by petition.

On May 9, 2014, a week into the case, Judge Douglas Wilkins accepted the State Committee's offer to certify Fisher on the primary ballot and put off the expedited June 16 trial date. The State Committee had not at that point turned over the "tally sheets" and the judge did not order them to do so, instead inviting Fisher's attorneys to submit an amended complaint. The State Committee also asked that the trial, discovery and deliberation over damages be postponed until after the election. The judge did not rule on that request, but he did rule that the other portions of Fisher's complaint would proceed at a later date, with no need for an expedited trial before the primary.

A debate was held between Baker and Fisher on August 21. They clashed on jobs, gun control and higher education. Baker called for "constructive friction" in electing him governor to counterbalance the Democratic-controlled General Court and said that he would "clean up the regulatory morass, control spending [and] reduce taxes." Fisher criticised the rise in food stamps, rising cost of entitlement programmes and illegal immigration. In the primary election on September 9, Baker defeated Fisher 116,004 votes (74.1%) to 40,240 (25.7%). In February 2015, Fisher settled with the State Party for $240,000. Executive Director Brian Wynne said that despite the settlement, the Party denied his accusations and said that the settlement was forced on them because of mounting legal costs.

Candidates

 * Karyn Polito, former state representative and nominee for Treasurer and Receiver-General of Massachusetts in 2010

Declared

 * Evan Falchuk, healthcare executive, attorney and founder of the United Independent Party
 * Running mate: Angus Jennings, professional planner/consultant


 * Scott Lively, evangelical pastor
 * Running mate: Shelly Saunders


 * Jeff McCormick, co-founder and managing partner of venture capital firm Saturn Partners
 * Running mate: Tracy Post, member of the Yarmouth Board of Selectmen

Polling

 * With Avellone


 * With Berwick


 * With Capuano


 * With Coakley


 * With Cowan


 * With Galvin


 * With Grossman


 * With Kayyem


 * With Kennedy


 * With Murray


 * With Ortiz


 * With Wolf

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

 * Bristol (largest municipality: New Bedford)
 * Hampden (largest municipality: Springfield)

Results by Congressional district
Baker won 6 of the 9 congressional districts, which all elected Democrats.