Elections

Governor’s Councilors are elected every two years. Historically, incumbents have always been reelected, so the initial election has been something of a lifetime appointment. There are two main reasons that it’s difficult to challenge incumbents: lack of knowledge by voters and the size of the Governor’s Council districts. Since the Governor’s Council generally flies under the radar, voters tend to simply reelect the incumbent. Governor’s Council districts each comprise five state senate districts. With eight Governor’s Council districts statewide, the districts are larger than congressional districts (Massachusetts currently has nine congresspeople.) The size of the districts and the inability to raise large sums of money for advertising makes it very difficult for challengers to reach voters.

To add to the general confusion for voters, the office is referred to as “Councillor” rather than as “Governor’s Councillor” on the ballot. Sen. Michael Barrett has introduced Senate Bill No. 406 an “Act to Clarify the Role of Governor’s Councillor on the Ballot” to amend state law to add the word “Governor.” It was recently reported out of the Joint Committee on Election Laws with a favorable recommendation for passage.

In addition, currently all Governor’s Councilors are Democrats, which has been the case for a long time. As a result, the election that matters is the primary in September. These are generally low-turnout events, making it even more difficult for challengers to make contact with the few voters who go to the polls.

2024 Elections

The 2024 primaries were held on September 3rd. Here are the results:

Democratic Primary Results

District 2

Tamisha L. Civil 27,256 38.7%

Muriel Elaine Kramer 15,515 22.0%

Sean Murphy D 15,758 22.4%

David S. Reservitz 11,919 16.9%

District 3

Marilyn M. Pettito Devaney 41,478 47.8%

Mara Dolan 45,238 52.2%

District 4

Christopher A. Iannella, Jr.   41,220 56.6%

Stacey K. Borden   25,530 32.3%

Ronald Primo Iacobucci 8,112 11.1%

General Election

We invited all the general election candidates to complete a short survey about their thoughts on their role as Governor’s Councillors, their plans to keep constituents informed of their votes, and their criteria for voting on candidates for the judiciary and parole board. You can review their responses here:

Tamisha Civil, District 2

Jody Eliott, District 5

District 1

Joseph C. Ferreira D Incumbent https://www.joeferreirama.com

Krysten Condon U

District 2

Tamisha L. Civil D  https://www.tamishacivil.com

Francis T. Crimmins, Jr. R https://www.electcrimmins.com

District 3: 

Mara Dolan D  https://maradolan.com/about-mara

District 4

Christopher A. Iannella, Jr.  D Incumbent

District 5

Jody A. Elliott U

Anne. M. Manning-Martin R https://www.anneforgc.com/

Eunice Delice Zeigler D https://www.eunicezeigler.com/

District 6

Terrence W. Kennedy D Incumbent

District 7

Paul M. DePalo D Incumbent https://www.pauldepalo.com

Andrew J. Couture R

District 8

Tara J. Jacobs D Incumbent https://tarajacobs.com

Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly has written an article about the current elections including campaign funds raised to date: “Lawyer, panel mull what a more democratic Governor’s Council might look like.”

2022 Election Results

Results from earlier elections are available on the Ballotpedia website.