While lawmakers like Massachusetts Sen. John Velis, D- Westfield are calling for a walk back of the more progressive messaging in the Democratic Party following president-elect Donald Trump's victory, businesses are expressing optimism.
Trump has promised to slash the corporate tax rate and impose strict tariffs on foreign goods. Here, in Massachusetts, Gov. Maura Healey has prioritized policies to attract and retain businesses. State House News Service reporter Chris Lisinski explains what it could means for companies in the commonwealth, if the president-elect enacts those federal tax cuts and foreign tariffs
Chris Lisinski, SHNS: It could be a mixed bag for companies here in the commonwealth, for sure. We have definitely heard some warnings from economists about potential downwind effects from higher tariffs. Raising the prices of goods. And that could have consequences that folks still aren't really grappling with. It will certainly add another wrinkle, to put it mildly, to the now two year long, running debate about competitiveness here in Massachusetts.
Carrie Healy, NEPM: Yeah. And what should Democrats take away from Senator Velis’ district return, where president-elect Trump increased his vote share from 2020 to 2024 by more than four percentage points (in Agawam and Chicopee, Holyoke and West Springfield)?
Yeah, I think what's really key for Democrats here, not just looking at a single district like Senator Velis. This was pretty consistent across the state. Trump increased his vote share in lots of different pockets of the state, including areas with very different demographics.
One thing that's been making the rounds a lot in the days since the election is the changing vote share in Lawrence, a city that is something like 80% Hispanic or Latino, still voted for Harris with a majority, but the share there tilted sharply toward Trump compared to his first election bid in 2016. So I think the bottom line is that it's not limited to one pocket. It's not limited to one demographic group. Democrats really need to reckon with the fact that they simply lost voters across the board.
At a post-election press conference Healey broadly chalked up the top of the ballot Democratic loss to the party's messaging about the economy, and then pivoted to highlighting the impact of federal funding in Massachusetts. But thinking strategically, the last time Trump was president, we had Charlie Baker, an anti-Trump Republican governor, and Healey was the state attorney general. There was a lot of fighting between the White House and Beacon Hill. What are we expecting this time?
Yeah, there's definitely going to be more fighting between the White House and Beacon Hill this time around, and possibly even more. Not that Charlie Baker was by any means a Trump fan, but more that Healey's really made a point of being anti-Trump, being the opposite of Trump, both in her work as AG and in so much of her national work as a surrogate for the Biden and then Harris campaigns.
So, we asked state Rep. Lindsay Sabadosa, D- Northampton, what areas the Legislature will want to focus on, given what could happen in Washington.
And I have a clip. Here's what she said, “Of course. We will be looking to shore up our voting rights, reproductive health care, which we've already done. But there's more we can do to protect people both here and outside of Massachusetts. I don't think there's an area in which there will not be work to do.”
So, lots on Sabadosa’s mind there. Chris, what do you expect to see?
I think some key areas will probably be immigration and reproductive healthcare. Those are two areas where Trump and other Republicans have really targeted with their rhetoric and made pretty sweeping promises about changes they'll make that run counter to, I would say, the median outlook for Democrats on Beacon Hill, who have supermajorities in both the House and Senate. So, look to those two as to really specific areas where I think Democrats will feel most pressured to step up and offer some kind of “Massachusetts level” response.
