October 6, 2026
THEY RAN AGAINST each other in 2010. They each served two terms as governor. They led their parties. And now they are both supporting a ballot question that strips Democrats and Republicans of guaranteed candidates in general elections.
The Yes on 3 campaign announced Monday that former Republican Gov. Charlie Baker has joined former Democratic Gov. Deval Patrick in endorsing the election reform. Patrick’s lieutenant governor, Tim Murray, is also on board.
“The opportunity to hold public office is a tremendous privilege, but even greater than that honor is the profound responsibility it carries to serve the community that elected you, regardless of party politics,” Baker said in a statement. “As governor, I worked hard to listen to different points of view because that’s the only way for leaders to find the best ideas and reach common ground to get important stuff done. Massachusetts is at its best when we put good ideas and good government ahead of politics, because the real work begins after campaigns end.”
Despite his electoral success here, Baker late in his second term and since fell out of favor within some corners of the Republican Party as it shifted its own abacus before and during President Donald Trump’s second term.
The Massachusetts Democratic Party and the Massachusetts Republican Party both oppose Question 3, which has drawn support from former Republican Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey and former MassGOP Chair Jennifer Nassour as well as Democrat Auditor Diana DiZoglio, former State Treasurer and MassDems Chair Steve Grossman and former US Rep. Joe Kennedy III, a Democrat.
“All-party primaries will give voters more choice and our elected officials will have to reach across the aisle to voters from other parties if they want to be successful. That’s why I believe Question 3 will return the focus to what matters most: delivering meaningful results for the people of our Commonwealth,” said Baker.
Added Patrick: “Politics nowadays is less about ‘red’ versus ‘blue’ than about insiders versus outsiders. Elections ought to be a competition of ideas, experience and character than about who has the better structural advantage. All-party primaries can enable more good people to compete, and encourage more office holders to deliver results once elected.”
The Yes on 3 campaign says the reform, which would require all candidates to compete in a single primary with the top two vote-getters advancing, would end “convention gatekeeping,” whereby candidates must secure the support of 15% of delegates during election-year party conventions. That requirement derailed the 2022 gubernatorial campaign of Danielle Allen, who had hoped to challenge Maura Healey for the Democratic nomination.
Democrat House Speaker Ron Mariano last month called the proposal “ridiculous” while Senate President Karen Spilka, also a Democrat, said she has “concerns about it, that those with the most money will be the ones coming out on top.”
Democratic Party Chair Steve Kerrigan has also claimed that Question 3 will make primary elections more about money.
“It becomes what everybody talks about: these smoke-filled back rooms of folks start putting their thumb on the scale in September for candidates, and then in order for a party or party activists to try to push one person or another, it becomes a money primary only, and not an activist primary,” Kerrigan said.
Courtesy of Commonwealth Beacon
