The 2010 Massachusetts gubernatorial election was held on November 2, 2010. Incumbent Democratic Governor Deval Patrick was re-elected to a second term.
Party primaries were held on September 14, though all four candidates ran unopposed in their respective primaries. Tim Murray, who ran on a ticket with Patrick, was re-elected lieutenant governor. This is the only gubernatorial election since 1994 in which the two major parties did not have a woman on the gubernatorial ticket.
Democratic primary
Governor
Candidates
- Deval Patrick, incumbent governor
- Grace Ross, 2006 Green-Rainbow nominee for governor
Lieutenant governor
Candidates
- Tim Murray, incumbent lieutenant governor
Republican primary
Governor
Candidates
- Charlie Baker, CEO of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care and former secretary of administration and finance
- Christy Mihos, independent candidate for governor in 2006
- Kerry Healey, former Lieutenant Governor and nominee in 2006
- Bob Hedlund, state senator from Weymouth
- Joe Malone, former state treasurer (ran for U.S. representative)
- Michael Sullivan, former U.S. attorney for the District of Massachusetts
Lieutenant governor
Candidates
- Richard Tisei, minority Leader of the Massachusetts State Senate
General election
Candidates
- Charlie Baker, CEO of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care (Republican)
- Running mate: Richard Tisei, minority Leader of the Massachusetts State Senate
- Tim Cahill, state treasurer and receiver-general (Independent)
- Running mate: Paul Loscocco, former Republican state representative
- Deval Patrick, incumbent governor (Democratic)
- Running mate: Tim Murray, incumbent lieutenant governor
- Jill Stein, medical internist and co-chairperson of the Massachusetts Green-Rainbow Party (Green-Rainbow)
- Running mate: Richard P. Purcell, surgery clerk and ergonomics assessor
Campaign
Defection of Loscocco
On October 1, 2010, Loscocco announced that he would withdraw from the race and endorse Republican candidate Charlie Baker. Loscocco formally remained on the ballot, however. On October 7, Cahill filed a lawsuit against four former campaign aides, alleging that they had conspired to undermine his candidacy and help Baker by arranging his defection. Cahill claimed that e-mails between Republican political consultants and Loscocco's top aide suggested that Loscocco might have been enticed to leave the ticket by future job promises. In response, Loscocco claimed that Cahill's top aide was coordinating strategy with the Patrick campaign and the Democratic Governors' Association, and thus was never actually an independent effort.
Lottery ad
Soon after Cahill filed suit against him, Adam Meldrum, Cahill's former campaign manager, alleged that Cahill had colluded with the Massachusetts Lottery, which is overseen by the state treasurer's office, to run an ad favorable to him during the campaign. The ad, paid for by the Commonwealth, described the Massachusetts Lottery as "the most successful state lottery in America" and "consistently well-managed", echoing themes from Cahill's gubernatorial campaign. Both Cahill and Massachusetts Lottery Director Mark Cavanagh denied the allegations. On October 18, e-mails released in conjunction with Cahill's lawsuit appeared to reveal that the campaign attempted to have the lottery air a series of ads that praised the lottery's management. In the e-mails, Cahill's campaign media strategist Dane Strother told Meldrum to "Get the Lottery immediately cutting a spot and get it up...Needs to focus on the Lottery being the best in the country and above reproach." Two days later, Cahill's senior adviser Scott Campbell wrote, "I think the first thing is to figure out what/where/how we want to do this ... with Lottery people."
On April 2, 2012, Cahill was indicted by a grand jury on charges that he had used $1.65 million of Massachusetts State Lottery advertising to aid his campaign for governor. On December 12, 2012, a mistrial was declared in the corruption case after the jury failed to reach a verdict on two counts of conspiracy.
Polling
%SupportDate010203040506/24/20094/5/20109/22/201010/28/2010PatrickBakerCahillOther/Undecided2010 Massachusetts gubernatorial election polling
Fundraising
As of October 31, 2010. Shading indicates candidate with the highest amount.
Results
By county
- Barnstable (largest municipality: Barnstable)
- Essex (largest municipality: Lynn)
- Norfolk (largest municipality: Quincy)
- Plymouth (largest municipality: Brockton)
- Worcester (largest municipality: Worcester)