Days before Election Day, the Democratic candidate for Massachusetts lieutenant governor met with voters in Pittsfield this afternoon. Recent polls show Republicans edging ahead.Steve Kerrigan joined members of the Berkshire legislative delegation during a campaign stop at the Pittsfield Senior Citizens Fair at the city’s Boys’ & Girls’ Club.
Kerrigan has held many roles in the Democratic Party on both the state and national stages, including as a political director for late Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy. He is facing off against Republican Karyn Polito, a former state representative from Worcester County who served from 2001 to 2011.
Kerrigan joined forces with gubernatorial candidate and Attorney General Martha Coakley after both bested two challengers in September’s primary.
“It’s been great,” Kerrigan said. “Martha and I have been friends for probably 15 years. So it’s a natural partnership. We both agree on investing in people all across Massachusetts. It’s been the way we’ve worked our entire careers and that’s how we’ve done it through the course of the campaign and how we’ll do it as governor and lieutenant governor. So it’s been a wonderful partnership. The energy level…it’s tough keeping up with her, but I do the best I can every day.”
Polito and Republican gubernatorial candidate Charlie Baker have been running together for more than a year. Polito spoke with WAMC News during a campaign stop in Pittsfield before September’s primary in which she was unopposed.
“The voters can see us as a team,” Polito said. “Two people that bring experience from the business sector, both served on the local level and in state government. We are ready on day one to lead this commonwealth forward and it’s not like we have to get to know each other.”
Early polling had Coakley with a double-digit lead over Baker, which has since evaporated. Surveys over the past month show the two neck-and-neck. Numbers released by the secretary of state’s office this week show 53 percent of Massachusetts voters are unenrolled. Just about 35 percent are registered Democrats, while 11 percent are Republican.
“Independents aren’t this foreign object out there that everybody has to find,” Kerrigan said. “They’re everybody. They’re people in every room, every neighborhood and every street corner who want to make sure that their next governor is investing in the people of Massachusetts. We are the only campaign that believes that early childhood education should be a priority. Where 17,000 children are on a waiting list in low-income communities and should have a chance at a better life. Charlie and Karyn think that that’s not effective.”
Polito says voters are ready for party balance in state government following two terms by Democratic Governor Deval Patrick working with a mostly Democratic legislature. Calling themselves social moderates and fiscal conservatives, Polito says she and Baker offer a unique brand and will bring change to state government in areas like welfare reform.
“So that people that need help the most can access those benefits, but those that are stuck in the level of dependence we are going to help them gain independence through education, learning how to work, saving and paying their bills on time,” Polito said. “Helping people get lifted up rather than being held back in a system of dependence that our state policies currently foster.”
Ron Latham directs the Berkshire Athenaeum and spoke with Kerrigan during his stop in Pittsfield. While Latham says he has been focused on the races, he’s afraid others are not.
“It is a governor’s race,” Latham said. “And I don’t know, people just don’t feel as though their vote counts.”
During a debate, Baker was asked if there was room for Coakley in his administration. Coakley quickly responded “No.” Here’s Kerrigan's response.
“I don’t believe so,” Kerrigan said. “But I won’t have to worry about it. Because there is not going to be a Baker administration. There’s going to be a Coakley administration and we’ve already defined the role I’ll have there as lieutenant governor.”
The lieutenant governor’s seat is empty after Tim Murray left in May of 2013 to head the Worcester Chamber of Commerce. Independent candidates Angus Jennings and Tracy Post are also running.
