The Democratic bastion of Massachusetts was not immune to Republican victories in the 2024 election. While he didn’t win its electoral votes, President Donald Trump expanded his vote share in the commonwealth to over 1.2 million and increased gains in almost every region. The MassGOP, which has long languished in the State House as an effectively powerless minority, managed to gain seats amid the momentum on the national level. This month, MassGOP Chair Amy Carnevale was re-elected for a second term, continuing her tenure leading a surging party recently defined by its division and internal conflicts. WAMC spoke with Carnevale about her vision for the party.
CARNEVALE: Last year was a presidential election year, which is a time when Republicans typically struggle to retain elected seats in the legislature. And not only did we retain all of our seats, we actually added a couple of seats as well. So, we really look at this past election cycle as a good year for Republicans. And then looking federally, we also gained vote share. Massachusetts was actually this the second largest gain in vote share for President Trump in the nation, after Florida. So certainly, he didn't win in Massachusetts, but I think the fact that he gained significantly shows that the voters are open to change and open to looking at Republicans.
WAMC: Now, what do you think worked for the GOP last year? It was a very complicated election, two very unpopular candidates- Well, ultimately, three very unpopular candidates, if the polling was to be believed. What do you think worked in favor of the GOP when it made those gains in Massachusetts?
Yeah, certainly the two issues that we saw resonating most with voters was affordability in Massachusetts and immigration. And in many respects, those two issues are linked. We've talked a lot at the state party about the funding that is going to support our migrants in Massachusetts, we know about a billion dollars a year on shelter alone, not to mention the cost of education and first responders and services supporting migrants coming into the state. So, that's a lot of money, and for a state like ours, you can't spend that amount of money without it affecting other programs, and that means affordability, and ultimately, these dollars get paid for somehow, and that's taxpayer dollars. So, we really talked a lot about those issues, and I think we heard from voters that these programs, while initially well designed in the 1980s to care for single moms and those individuals who may be down on their luck and need a little helping hand to help them out, have really gotten to the point where they're out of control and we can't afford to continue them on the current course.
Now you, of course, also have had a pretty good start to the year, reelected for a second term leading the MassGOP. What do you want to get done with this renewed commitment from the party to have you as its leader?
So first and foremost, it's candidate recruitment. We are really focused on municipal elections that are coming up this year, and then also recruiting candidates for 2026, because now is the time that we'd like to be talking to candidates thinking about running for state representative, state senator. We have four candidate training sessions scheduled at this point over the next month, and we're planning on setting some more. We have one in Holyoke on February 15th at 10am at the Holyoke Public Library, so, I'll just put a little plug for that one, but we'll be setting some more training sessions throughout the spring. And really, that's to talk to people interested in running who maybe hadn't thought about it before, but now, really want to be part of this change and part of making a difference in our government, and perhaps seeing for the first time that running as a Republican may be more acceptable to voters than we’ve seen in the past. If we look down on the south coast of Massachusetts, for example, that's an area that had been kind of blue collar, tending to support Democratic candidates, and that has completely changed in this last election. So, now we're thinking about Western Mass and in other areas where we’d really like to target to do the same.
Now, the MassGOP has always occupied a pretty fascinating relationship with the national party. From your perspective, is the MassGOP right now trying to implement aspects of the general MAGA, America First policies of President Trump, or is the MassGOP trying to distinguish itself as its own entity? Because for some time that's been sort of the push and pull of the party. I certainly went to Charlie Baker's final party convention a few years back, and that tension was really on full display. So how do you see that?
Yeah, it's an interesting question, and it's a struggle that we think about quite a lot, but me, as party chair, I really focus on controlling what I can at the state level, and that's what the issues and candidates that resonate here in Massachusetts. And we certainly don't turn away some of those federal issues because issues like immigration that we just talked about are important in Massachusetts. But again, as a state party, really, my mantra is to focus on electing candidates to office, and that means candidates on the local level, and sometimes that's a little bit of a different type of Republican than you might see at the national level.
What do you see as the major political goals for the MassGOP in this very exciting moment where your leadership has been reaffirmed, the party made major gains, there's a president in the White House who's a Republican- With all that momentum, where do you want to see that go when it translates to policies in the commonwealth?
Yeah, again, that Right to Shelter law for the migrants coming in from day one into our state, that has got to change, and I think we've seen Democrats now even embrace the Republican position that we've been articulating over the last two years, and finally, come around and talk about how we do need to amend that right to shelter law, but ultimately, I would say getting more Republicans elected so we can focus on longer term issues like transparency and accountability. We've actually kind of got across the party line and worked with our auditor, [Democrat] Diana DiZoglio, who's talked about auditing the legislature. Massachusetts is the least transparent legislature in the nation, which is really a shame if you think about a state like Massachusetts that often prides itself on being paramount and a little more progressive, the fact that we're so opaque in our dealings and our votes and the way bills are debated behind closed doors, and even allowing media access to some of the discussions and deliberations- It just doesn't make any sense for a state like ours. So, we'll continue to partner with anybody who's willing to partner with us to talk about transparency and accountability, whether they're Democrats, Independents or Republicans. And again, long term, it's really getting more Republicans elected. But we'll continue to talk about issues like accountability as well.
At this point, do you feel like, in general, your job is to sort of continually back whatever comes out of the White House? Or have you found yourself saying, well, there's some things that I definitely don't agree with or feel differently about as far as how some of this might apply to Massachusetts?
Well, certainly I would say, I think President Trump and Vice President Vance are off to a great start. I think they're responding to what they saw was the message that they heard from the voters. But, as these executive orders and initiatives roll out, I'll let them kind of answer for themselves and defend their own positions. I think in general, the approach has been much needed- But when it comes to the specifics, again, I'm going to really focus more on Massachusetts and how perhaps some of these executive orders are impacting our state. And again, my job is as party chair is really to get more Republicans elected here in the state so we can improve some of our state policies.
I'm interested in your thoughts on Governor Maura Healey's second budget proposal that came out last week. It's going to be the major topic of conversation for the next few months on Beacon Hill. What's the MassGOP’s party line on Governor Maura Healey’s spending priorities heading into fiscal year 2026?
Yeah. So, we did take issue with her budget proposal. We think in many respects it's unsustainable and doesn't include the types of reforms that we would want to see in a budget proposal- And it does rely on some new taxes too, and I think, some gimmicks. So, we really would like to see her go back to the drawing board and work across the aisle with Republicans who are willing to work with her on enacting some reforms. She talked about reforms to the migrant program, but there’s holes in her proposal a mile wide. For example, migrants coming in, she said we're going to require a residency- One of those requirements would just be for them to attest that they plan to stay in Massachusetts. So, I mean, that seems to be quite a large, large loophole. So, we would encourage her to go back to the drawing board.
It's been reported that Mike Kennealy, the former cabinet secretary for Governor Charlie Baker, is considering a run for governor as a Republican next year. As head of the MassGOP, what are your thoughts on that?
Yeah, so I know Mike Kennealy well. He has actually served in a finance position helping raise money for the Republican Party and many of our candidates over this past cycle. He has stepped away from that position now as he thinks about running for governor. I'm hearing we may have another candidate as well. There is somebody else, I think, seriously looking at the race. So obviously, as party chair, it's preferable to have one candidate, but I think the fact that Maura Healey is perceived is very weak on policy I think has Incentivized Republicans to think of, now is the time to run and think about running. So, I know this, we will have a strong challenger, and we may have more than one.
