Kelly Garrity

Boston, Massachusetts

Breaking News Reporter at POLITICO

writing about Massachusetts for @politico

Articles

Beacon Hill Dems can’t shake their bad blood

2 days ago | politico.com | Kelly Garrity

COMMITTEE CLASH — Tensions between the House and Senate have been creeping back after Democratic legislative leaders settled their differences to finish off several big bills last session. It didn’t take much for them to spill out into public Monday. Senate President Karen Spilka slammed the House chair of the Joint Committee on Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure of denying Sen.
A Baker-world battle begins

3 days ago | politico.com | Kelly Garrity

NEW CANDIDATE DROPPED — It’s official: Brian Shortsleeve, a venture capitalist and Marine veteran who former Gov. Charlie Baker once tapped to untangle the MBTA’s budget mess, is running for governor, he announced in a video posted this morning. “I’ll restore common sense to the commonwealth and put Massachusetts first. This is our home where we’re raising our boys, and I’m not letting it fall apart without a fight,” he says in the video, as a scene of him sitting with his family flashes by.
Catching up with Josh Kraft

6 days ago | politico.com | Kelly Garrity

CITY HALL CALLS — Is Josh Kraft’s candidacy changing Boston? The former leader of the New England Patriots Foundation, scion of billionaire Robert Kraft and mayoral candidate has been leaning heavily into criticisms of Michelle Wu as he looks to become the first person in decades to oust an incumbent Boston mayor. Among his top accusations: The mayor “doesn’t listen,” Kraft says. But in some cases, it seems, she may be listening to him.
Cash and generational change

1 week ago | politico.com | Kelly Garrity

MONEY MOVES — Patrick Roath, the attorney, voting rights advocate and Deval Patrick alum challenging Rep. Stephen Lynch, raised more than $115,000 on the first day of announcing his bid — none from corporate PACs — according to his campaign. That’s more than the roughly $47,000 Lynch raised in the first quarter of this year (He had more than $1 million in his campaign coffers at the end of the March, per the most recent data from the Federal Election Commission.).
Senate budgets blow a hole Healey’s transpo funding plan

1 week ago | politico.com | Kelly Garrity

DERAILED — Even the best laid MBTA plans can veer off track, and Gov. Maura Healey’s $8 billion transportation funding plan is no exception. Healey touted the plan as “historic” and has been pitching it to constituents as a response to “decades of underinvestment” at stops on her transportation “road show.”Just one problem: She doesn’t yet have buy-in from the top Democratic lawmakers who control the state’s purse strings.
No blue state blues here

1 week ago | politico.com | Kelly Garrity

INTERNAL SURVEY SAYS — Eighteen months out from Election Day, Democrats are bullish about Gov. Maura Healey’s reelection chances in deep-blue Massachusetts, per a memo from the Democratic Governors Association. A poll paid for by Healey’s campaign, and detailed in the memo obtained by Massachusetts Playbook, shows the first-term Democrat with a 59 percent job approval rating, a record high for Healey since taking office.
Northeastern governors look to sidestep Trump administration in Canadian trade war

1 week ago | politico.com | Kelly Garrity

Governors from six states, including Massachusetts and New York, invited the premiers of six Canadian provinces for a meeting in Boston in the coming weeks. “As Governors of New England, we want to keep open lines of communication and cooperation and identify avenues to overcome the hardship of these uninvited tariffs and help our economies endure,” the letter, led by Democratic Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey, reads.
Budget battle ahead over broker fees

1 week ago | politico.com | Kelly Garrity

RIP BROKER FEES? — Top Massachusetts Democrats say they want to eliminate broker fees paid by tenants. But before most renters can drop the upfront cost — usually amounting to one month’s rent — from their own budget calculations, lawmakers will have to agree on what legislation changing the way fees are paid should look like.
More money, more problems

1 week ago | politico.com | Kelly Garrity

CASH CLASH — Buckle up for what could be a bumpy budget season. The House and Senate won’t just have to find common ground on how they’ll spread around billions of dollars in their FY26 budgets. Budget writers will also have to address gaping differences over how to split the roughly $1.3 billion surplus the state collected from the so-called millionaires’ tax.
Healey's media blitz

2 weeks ago | politico.com | Kelly Garrity

ON THE AIRWAVES — You can’t escape Maura Healey these days. If you’ve tuned in to CNN or MSNBC or a political-focused podcast in the last month, there’s a decent chance you’ve caught the governor warning about China recruiting scientists off Massachusetts’ university campuses, railing against threatened cuts to funding at Harvard or laying into her old foil, President Donald Trump, over his tariffs proposals.