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Maura Tracy Healey (born February 8, 1971) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the Massachusetts Attorney General. She is a member of the Democratic Party.

Maura Healey
44th Attorney General of Massachusetts
Incumbent
Assumed office January 21, 2015
Governor	Charlie Baker
Preceded by	Martha Coakley
Personal details
Born	Maura Tracy Healey (1971-02-08) February 8, 1971 (age 51) Bethesda, Maryland, U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Education	Harvard University (AB) Northeastern University (JD)
Website	Official website

Hired by Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley in 2007, Healey served as chief of the Civil Rights Division, where she spearheaded the state's challenge to the federal Defense of Marriage Act. She was then appointed chief of the Public Protection and Advocacy Bureau and then chief of the Business and Labor Bureau before resigning in 2013 to run for attorney general in 2014. She defeated former State Senator Warren Tolman in the Democratic primary and then defeated Republican attorney John Miller in the general election. Healey was reelected in 2018.[1] Upon taking office, she became the first openly lesbian state attorney general in the United States.[2]

Healey is the Democratic nominee in the 2022 Massachusetts gubernatorial election.[3] She is heavily favored to win the election and become the state's first elected woman governor and the first openly lesbian governor in U.S. history.[4]

Early life and education

Born at the Bethesda Naval Hospital, Maura Tracy Healey grew up as the oldest of five brothers and sisters. When she was nine months old, her family moved to Hampton Falls, New Hampshire, where she was raised.[5] Her mother was a nurse at Lincoln Akerman School in Hampton Falls; her father was a captain in the United States Public Health Service and an engineer. Her stepfather, Edward Beattie, taught history and coached girls' sports at Winnacunnet High School. Her family roots are in Newburyport and the North Shore area.

Healey attended Winnacunnet High School,[6] and majored in government at Harvard College, graduating cum laude in 1992. She was co-captain of the Harvard Crimson women's basketball team.[7] After graduation, Healey spent two years playing as a starting point guard for a professional basketball team in Austria, UBBC Wustenrot Salzburg.[8] Upon returning to the United States, she earned a Juris Doctor from Northeastern University School of Law in 1998.[9]

Career

Healey began her legal career by clerking for Judge A. David Mazzone of the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts, where she prepared monthly compliance reports on the cleanup of the Boston Harbor and assisted the judge with trials, hearings, and case conferences. Healey subsequently spent more than seven years at the law firm Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP, where she worked as an associate and then junior partner and focused on commercial and securities litigation.[10]

She also served as a special assistant district attorney in Middlesex County, where she tried drug, assault, domestic violence, and motor vehicle cases in bench and jury sessions and argued bail hearings, motions to suppress, and probation violations and surrenders.[10]

Hired by Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley in 2007, Healey served as chief of the Civil Rights Division, where she spearheaded the state's challenge to the federal Defense of Marriage Act. She led the winning arguments for Massachusetts in the country's first lawsuit striking down the law.[11]

In 2012, Healey was promoted to chief of the Public Protection and Advocacy Bureau.[12] She was then appointed chief of the Business and Labor Bureau.[13]

As a division chief and bureau head in the Attorney General's Office, Healey oversaw 250 lawyers and staff members and supervised the areas of consumer protection, fair labor, ratepayer advocacy, environmental protection, health care, insurance and financial services, civil rights, antitrust, Medicaid fraud, nonprofit organizations and charities, and business, technology, and economic development.[10][13]

During a Zoom conference call on June 3, 2020, before 300 members of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, Healey asked for a call to action from business leaders to work to end racial inequalities and systemic racism. She ended her speech by saying, "Yes, America is burning, but that's how forests grow.”[14][15]

Massachusetts Attorney General

Elections

2014

In October 2013, Healey announced her candidacy for attorney general. Coakley was retiring from the office to run for governor. On September 9, 2014, Healey won the Democratic primary by 126,420 votes, defeating former State Senator Warren Tolman, 62.4% to 37.6%.[16]

Healey's campaign was endorsed by State Senators Stan Rosenberg, Dan Wolf, Jamie Eldridge and America's largest resource for pro-choice women in politics, EMILY's List.[17][18] It was also endorsed by Northeast District Attorney David Sullivan, Holyoke Mayor Alex Morse, Fitchburg Mayor Lisa Wong, and Northampton Mayor David Narkewicz.[19][20] Organizations that endorsed the campaign include the Planned Parenthood Advocacy Fund of Massachusetts, MassEquality, and the Victory Fund.[21][22][23] Healey wrote an op-ed in the Worcester Telegram and Gazette on upholding the Massachusetts buffer zone law, which she worked on at the Attorney General's Office.[9] She also authored an op-ed in The Boston Globe outlining her plan to combat student loan predators.[24][25][26]

Healey defeated Republican nominee John Miller, an attorney, in the general election, 62.5% to 37.5%. Upon taking office, she became the United States' first openly lesbian state attorney general.[27][28]

2018

On November 6, 2018, Healey was reelected Massachusetts Attorney General, defeating Republican nominee James McMahon with 69.9% of the vote.[1]

Tenure

Healey's plan to reduce gun violence addresses what she perceives as its root causes. The plan includes enhancing the background check system to include information regarding recent restraining orders, pending indictments, any relations to domestic violence, parole, and probation information. The plan also seeks to better track stolen and missing guns. Healey advocates fingerprint trigger locks and firearm micro-stamping on all guns sold in Massachusetts.[29][30]

Healey's plan for criminal justice reform includes ending mandatory sentences for nonviolent drug offenders and focusing on treatment rather than incarceration.[31]

Healey plans to combat prescription drug abuse and Massachusetts's heroin epidemic by implementing a "lock-in" program. The program will be carried out in pharmacies as a way to identify and track prescription drug abusers and distributors. Her plan includes deployment of new resources to drug trafficking hotspots, improvement of treatment accessibility and expanding access to Narcan.[32]

Abortion

Healey's women's rights platform focuses on sex education, expanding access to abortion services in Massachusetts, and ensuring that every woman in Massachusetts has access to abortion regardless of where she lives, her occupation, or her income.[33]

Gun control

On July 20, 2016, Healey announced her intention to ban the manufacturing of most assault rifles in Massachusetts.[34]

Trump administration

On January 31, 2017, Healey announced that her office was joining a lawsuit challenging President Donald Trump's Executive Order 13769,[35][36] commonly known as a "Muslim ban."[37][38] Healey condemned the order as "motivated by anti-Muslim sentiment and Islamophobia, not by a desire to further national security."[35] A federal court eventually struck the order down on similar grounds.[39]

On March 9, 2017, Healey announced that her office was joining a lawsuit challenging Trump's Executive Order 13780.[40][41] She said the new order, a revised version of the one that had been struck down, "remains a discriminatory and unconstitutional attempt to make good on [Trump's] campaign promise to implement a Muslim ban."[40] The order has since been blocked in various federal courts on similar grounds.[41][42]

On May 11, 2017, after Trump fired FBI Director James Comey, Healey led efforts calling for the appointment of a special counsel to investigate Russia's meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Her office sent a letter to that effect, signed by 20 Attorneys General across the nation, to Deputy U.S. Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.[43] On March 17, Rosenstein appointed a special counsel, former FBI director Robert Mueller.[44]

2022 Massachusetts gubernatorial campaign

On January 20, 2022, Healey announced her candidacy in the 2022 Massachusetts gubernatorial election.[45] Her announcement came after Governor Charlie Baker, a Republican, announced he would not seek reelection. On September 6, 2022, Healey won the Democratic primary election.

Personal life

Healey lives in Charlestown, Massachusetts.[10][46] She plays basketball recreationally.[47][48][49][50] She is openly gay.[51]

Electoral history

2014 Massachusetts Attorney General Democratic primary election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Maura Healey	322,380	62.1
	Democratic	Warren Tolman	195,654	37.7
	Write-in		721	0.1
Total votes			518,755	100.0

2014 Massachusetts Attorney General election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Maura Healey	1,280,513	61.7
	Republican	John Miller	793,821	38.2
	Write-in		1,885	0.1
Total votes			2,076,219	100.0

2018 Massachusetts Attorney General election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Maura Healey	1,874,209	69.9
	Republican	Jay McMahon III	804,832	30.0
	Write-in		1,858	0.1
Total votes			2,680,899	100.0

See also

• List of female state attorneys general in the United States
• List of first openly LGBT politicians in the United States

References

External links

• Office of Attorney General Maura Healey official government website
• Maura Healey for Governor campaign website
• Appearances on C-SPAN
• Profile at Vote Smart

Party political offices
Preceded by Martha Coakley	Democratic nominee for Attorney General of Massachusetts 2014, 2018	Succeeded by Andrea Campbell
Preceded by Jay Gonzalez	Democratic nominee for Governor of Massachusetts 2022	Most recent
Legal offices
Preceded by Martha Coakley	Attorney General of Massachusetts 2015–present	Incumbent

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