The Massachusetts race for governor is in its’ final days. Latest polling shows our state’s current Attorney General, Democrat, Maura Healey with a substantial lead over the former State Representative, Republican, Geoff Diehl. But Diehl says he’s been the underdog before and won. And he believes his message is resonating with voters. He recently sat down with Boston 25 News Anchor Kerry Kavanaugh for a final conversation before Election Day.
Kavanaugh: “I know polls can be wrong. You are trailing by double digits. I also look, though, at campaign financing. Your opponent has raised significantly more money than you.”
Diehl: “After eight years of being in office.”
Kavanaugh: “Well, four and a half million to date. And you have a little over a million right now raised. Does that to you at all translate with voter enthusiasm?”
Diehl: “It’s always going to be an underdog race with Republicans in the state, you know, are the minority party. But at the same time, we’ve really worked extremely hard to get the message out there. And even the polling itself in Massachusetts, Republicans are never, never ahead leading up to election day.”
Kavanaugh: “You recently launched a “Take Back Freedom” tour. That’s pretty much been the centerpiece of your campaign, right, for you when you’re talking about vaccinations and other things. Do you think that was a broad enough message to reach enough people?”
Diehl: “People are concerned economically. The inflation rate right now from national spending and the devaluation of the dollar that’s causing people to have issues with purchasing food, is up. Obviously, gas has been up for a long time. It’s high, but now natural gas. We’re looking at potential rolling blackouts in Massachusetts based on our lack of natural gas. And that’s, again, directly the effect of my opponent blocking natural gas coming into our state.”
Kavanaugh: “You talked about the cost of food, energy prices. Obviously, housing is a major problem here, affordability of housing. So as Governor, how are you going to help bring the cost down in all of those areas?”
Diehl: “Unlocking transportation around the rest of the state is one thing I think that we can really solve, that the East-West Rail will allow us to get people to, you know, look at other cities and towns, Worcester, Springfield and a lot of cities and towns in between as affordable places maybe to live. We can allow some more flexibility for the workforce.”
Kavanaugh: “How do you restore faith in our public transportation system as Governor?”
Diehl “What we need to do is take a look at how we can get the MBTA up and running and not make bad decisions anymore. One of the things they did several years ago was they chose a Chinese company that put a factory out in Springfield to build the red line, the orange line cars. None of those cars have been delivered on time. But, I think some of it too is generally management.
What I want to do is re-empower the workers of the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families, at the MBTA, State Police officers that were fired, you know, again, because of the vaccine mandates. I want to give them their job back on day one.”
Kavanaugh: “The vote is on. What do you want to tell people in these final days?”
Diehl: “Massachusetts has services that people depend on. We need to be transparent about how we do it, and we need to keep an eye on the tax dollars that fund it. But at the same time, you know, the key as Governor is to make sure that the buck stops there and that you deliver on what people expect as a state that has been leading in education and in business.”
Diehl told Kavanaugh he began his campaign in Western Mass because he knows the state is bigger than what lies within the 495 beltway. If elected Governor, he says he will continue to be out across the state listening to the people who live here.
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