2022 Massachusetts Attorney General election

2022 Massachusetts Attorney General election

←  2018 November 8, 2022 2026  →

Nominee Andrea Campbell Jay McMahon Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 1,539,624 908,608 Percentage 62.85% 37.09%

County results Municipality results Congressional district results Precinct results Campbell:     40–50%     50–60%     60–70%     70–80%     80–90%     >90% McMahon:     40–50%     50–60%     60–70%     70–80%     80–90% Tie:     40–50%     50%     No votes

Attorney General before election Maura Healey Democratic Elected Attorney General Andrea Campbell Democratic

The 2022 Massachusetts Attorney General election took place on November 8, 2022, to elect the next attorney general of Massachusetts. Incumbent Democratic Attorney General Maura Healey was eligible to seek a third term, but instead announced she would run for governor. ^{[1] [2]}

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominee

• Andrea Campbell, former president of the Boston City Council and candidate for mayor of Boston in 2021 ^[3]

Eliminated in primary

• Shannon Liss-Riordan, labor attorney and candidate for U.S. Senate in 2020 ^[4]

Withdrew

• Quentin Palfrey, former deputy general counsel at the U.S. Department of Commerce and nominee for lieutenant governor in 2018 (endorsed Campbell; remained on ballot) ^[5]

Declined

• Maura Healey, Massachusetts attorney general (2015–2023) (running for governor) ^[6]
• Jon Mitchell, mayor of New Bedford ^[7]
• Marian Ryan, Middlesex County district attorney (running for reelection) ^[8]

Endorsements

Andrea Campbell

Federal officials

• Jake Auchincloss, U.S. Representative from Massachusetts's 4th congressional district (2021–) ^[9]
• Katherine Clark, U.S. Representative from Massachusetts's 5th congressional district (2013–) ^[10]
• Joe Kennedy III, former U.S. Representative from Massachusetts's 4th congressional district (2013–2021) ^[11]
• Stephen Lynch, U.S. Representative from Massachusetts's 8th congressional district ^[a] (2001–) ^[12]
• Ed Markey, U.S. Senator from Massachusetts (2013–) ^[13]
• Ayanna Pressley, U.S. Representative from Massachusetts's 7th congressional district (2019–) ^[14]

State officials

• Maura Healey, incumbent Attorney General ^[15]

State legislators

• Jon Cutler, state representative ^[16]
• Ron Mariano, Speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives (2020–) from the 3rd Norfolk district (1991–) ^[17]
• Karen Spilka, president of the Massachusetts Senate ^[18]

Mayors

• Brian Arrigo, mayor of Revere ^[19]

Individuals

• Danielle Allen, Harvard professor ^[20]
• Barbara Lee, philanthropist ^[21]

Newspapers

• The Boston Globe ^[22]

Organizations

• Democracy for America ^[23]
• EMILY's List ^[24]
• Planned Parenthood Advocacy Fund of Massachusetts ^[25]

Labor unions

• Service Employees International Union State Council ^[26]

Shannon Liss-Riordan

Federal officials

• Elizabeth Warren, U.S. Senator from Massachusetts (2013–present) ^[27]

District attorneys

• Michael W. Morrissey, District Attorney of Norfolk County ^[28]

State legislators

• Jamie Belsito, state representative ^[28]
• Mike Connolly, state representative
• Carol Doherty, state representative ^[28]
• Paul Feeney, state senator
• Anne Gobi, state senator (previously endorsed Palfrey) ^[29]
• Ken Gordon, state representative ^[28]
• Christopher Markey, state representative ^[28]
• Adam Scanlon, state representative (previously endorsed Palfrey) ^[29]
• Erika Uyterhoeven, state representative ^[30]

City officials

• Kim Janey, acting Mayor of Boston (2021) ^[27]
• Michelle Wu, Mayor of Boston (2021–present) ^[27]

City councilmembers

• Jesse Clingan, Somerville councilman ^[28]
• Ben Ewen-Campen, Somerville councilman ^[28]
• Matt McLaughlin, Somerville councilman ^[28]
• Jonathan Paz, Waltham city councilman ^[28]
• Holly Ryan, Newton city councilor (previously endorsed Palfrey) ^[29]
• Jake Wilson, Somerville councilman ^[28]

Individuals

• Jay Gonzalez, former Secretary of Administration and Finance of Massachusetts (2009–2013) and Democratic nominee for governor in 2018 ^[31]
• Sara Nelson, international president of the Association of Flight Attendants ^[32]

Unions

• Alliance of Unions of the MBTA ^[33]
• CWA Local 201 ^[34]
• IBEW Local 1228 ^[33]
• Iron Workers Local 7 ^[35]
• Massachusetts AFL–CIO ^[36]
• National Association of Government Employees ^[26]
• OPEIU Local 453 ^[33]
• Painters and Allied Trades District Council 35 ^[37]
• Pipefitters Local 537 ^[33]
• Plasterers and Cement Masons Local 534 ^[33]
• SEIU Local 888 ^[38]
• Sheet Metal Workers Local 17 ^[33]
• Sheet Metal Workers Local 63 ^[37]
• Teamsters Local 122 ^[38]
• UNITE HERE New England Joint Board ^[24]
• United Steelworkers District 4 ^[37]

Organizations

• Our Revolution Massachusetts (previously endorsed Palfrey) ^[29]

Quentin Palfrey (withdrew)

State officials

• James Aloisi, former Massachusetts Secretary of Transportation (2009) ^[39]
• Philip W. Johnston, former Secretary of Health and Human Services of Massachusetts (1984–1991) ^[39]

State legislators

• Anne Gobi, state senator ^[29] (switched endorsement to Liss-Riordan after Palfrey withdrew)
• Natalie Higgins, state representative from the 4th Worcester district (2017–) ^[39]
• Jack Patrick Lewis, state representative from the 7th Middlesex district (2017–)
• Brian Murray, state representative from the 10th Worcester district (2017–) ^[40]
• Steven Owens, state representative from the 29th Middlesex district (2021–) ^[41]
• Matthew Patrick, former state representative from the 3rd Barnstable district (2001–2011) ^[39]
• Lois Pines, former state senator from the 1st Middlesex and Norfolk district (1987–1999) ^[42]
• Adam Scanlon, state representative from the 14th Bristol district (2021–) ^[43] (switched endorsements to Liss-Riordan after Palfrey withdrew)
• Eric Turkington, former state representative from the Barnstable, Dukes and Nantucket district (1989–2009) ^[39]

Local officials

• Susan Albright, Newton city council president ^[42]
• Caroline Bays, Watertown city councilor ^[41]
• Susan Falkoff, former Watertown at-large councilor ^[41]
• Bill Humphrey, Newton city councilor ^[42]
• David Kalis, Newton city councilor ^[42]
• Jesse Lederman, member of the Springfield, Massachusetts city council ^[21]
• Richard Lipof, Newton city council vice-president ^[42]
• Holly Ryan, Newton city councilor ^[42] (switched endorsements to Liss-Riordan after Palfrey withdrew)
• Greg Schwartz, former Newton city councilor ^[42]
• Adam Steiner, Framingham city councilman ^[44]
• Cesar Stewart-Morales, Framingham city councilman ^[44]
• Ty Waterman, Attleboro city councilor ^[43]

Individuals

• Donald Berwick, former administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (2010–2011) ^[10]
• Victoria Danberg, Newton city councilor ^[42]

Organizations

• Massachusetts Democratic Party ^[41]
• Massachusetts Sierra Club ^[45]
• Our Revolution Massachusetts ^[24] (switched endorsements to Liss-Riordan after Palfrey withdrew)

Debates

2022 Massachusetts Attorney General Democratic primary debates

No.	Date	Host	Moderator	Link	Democratic	Democratic	Democratic
Key:  P Participant  A Absent  N Not invited  I Invited  W  Withdrawn
					Andrea Campbell	Shannon Liss-Riordan	Quentin Palfrey
1	Aug. 1, 2022	WGBH-TV	Jim Braude	YouTube	P	P	P
2 [46]	Aug. 10, 2022	WBUR-FM The Boston Globe WCVB-TV	Tiziana Dearing Sharman Sacheti	YouTube	P	P	P

Polling

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size [b]	Margin of error	Andrea Campbell	Shannon Liss-Riordan	Quentin Palfrey	Other	Undecided
UMass Amherst [47]	August 26–29, 2022	500 (LV)	± 5.1%	28%	29%	11%	1%	31%
UMass Lowell [48]	August 16–25, 2022	800 (LV)	± 3.9%	32%	30%	11%	2%	25%
Advantage, Inc. (R) [49] [A]	August 22–23, 2022	563 (LV)	± 4.1%	25%	20%	5%	–	49%
MassINC Polling Group (D) [50] [B]	August 19–21, 2022	401 (LV)	± 4.9%	28%	26%	10%	2%	32%
MassINC Polling Group [51]	August 5–9, 2022	520 (LV)	± 5.1%	24%	16%	4%	4%	50%
UMass Amherst [52]	June 15–21, 2022	557 (LV)	± 4.7%	21%	11%	9%	0%	59%
MassINC Polling Group (D) [50] [B]	June 2022	– (LV)	–	24%	6%	12%	4%	50%
UMass Lowell [53]	April 2–11, 2022	800 (LV)	± 3.9%	30%	11%	6%	2%	52%
MassINC Polling Group (D) [54] [B]	January 18–20, 2022	310 (LV)	± 5.6%	31%	3%	2%	2%	54%

Results

Convention

Democratic convention vote first round, June 4 ^[55]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Andrea Campbell	1,622	39.2
	Democratic	Quentin Palfrey	1,605	38.8
	Democratic	Shannon Liss-Riordan	906	21.9
Total votes			4,133	100.0%

Democratic convention vote second round, June 4 ^[55]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Quentin Palfrey	1,920	54
	Democratic	Andrea Campbell	1,631	46
Total votes			3,551	100%

Primary

Results by Municipality:

  Campbell

•   30–40%
•   40–50%
•   50–60%
•   60–70%

  Liss-Riordan

•   30–40%
•   40–50%
•   50–60%

Results by Municipality

Results by precinct:

  Campbell

•   30–40%
•   40–50%
•   50–60%
•   60–70%
•   70–80%
•   80–90%
•   90–100%

  Liss-Riordan

•   30–40%
•   40–50%
•   50–60%

  Palfrey

•   40–50%

  Tie

  No data/No votes

Results by Precinct

Democratic primary results ^[56]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Andrea Campbell	365,362	50.10%
	Democratic	Shannon Liss-Riordan	248,648	34.10%
	Democratic	Quentin Palfrey (withdrawn)	115,200	15.80%
Total votes			729,210	100.0%

Republican primary

Candidates

Nominee

• Jay McMahon, Bourne attorney and nominee for attorney general in 2018 ^{[57] [58]}

Endorsements

Jay McMahon

Former Elected Officials

• Geoff Diehl, State Representative (2011–2019) ^[59]

Labor Unions

• Massachusetts Fraternal Order of Police ^[60]

Declined

• Andrew Lelling, former U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts ^[61]

Results

Republican primary results ^[56]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	James R. McMahon, III	215,283	100.0%
Total votes			215,283	100.0%

General election

Pre-primary candidate forum

2022 Massachusetts Attorney General pre-primary candidate forum

No.	Date	Host	Moderator	Link	Democratic	Democratic	Republican	Democratic
Key:  P Participant  A Absent  N Not invited  I Invited  W  Withdrawn
					Andrea Campbell	Shannon Liss-Riordan	James McMahon	Quentin Palfrey
1	May 23, 2022	Rappaport Center for Law and Public Policy	Kimberly Atkins Stohr	YouTube	P	P	A	P

Debate

2022 Massachusetts Attorney General debate

No.	Date	Host	Moderator	Link	Democratic	Republican
Key:  P Participant  A Absent  N Not invited  I Invited  W  Withdrawn
					Andrea Campbell	James McMahon
1	Oct. 21, 2022	WBZ-TV	Jon Keller	YouTube	P	P

Predictions

Source	Ranking	As of
Sabato's Crystal Ball [62]	Safe D	September 14, 2022
Elections Daily [63]	Safe D	November 1, 2022

Polling

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size [b]	Margin of error	Andrea Campbell (D)	James McMahon (R)	Other	Undecided
UMass Amherst/YouGov [64]	October 20–26, 2022	700 (RV)	± 4.3%	58%	33%	1% [c]	7%
UMass Lowell/YouGov [65]	October 18–25, 2022	1,000 (LV)	± 4.1%	55%	28%	–	16%
Suffolk University [66]	October 13–16, 2022	500 (LV)	± 4.4%	50%	30%	1% [d]	19%
Suffolk University [67]	September 10–13, 2022	500 (RV)	± 4.4%	50%	24%	1% [d]	25%

Results

2022 Massachusetts Attorney General election ^[68]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Andrea Campbell	1,539,624	62.85%	−7.06%
	Republican	James R. McMahon, III	908,608	37.09%	+7.07%
	Write-in		1,550	0.06%	-0.01%
Total votes			2,449,782	100.0%
	Democratic hold

By congressional district

Campbell won all nine congressional districts. ^[69]

District	Campbell	McMahon	Representative
1st	57%	43%	Richard Neal
2nd	62%	38%	Jim McGovern
3rd	60%	40%	Lori Trahan
4th	61%	39%	Jake Auchincloss
5th	73%	27%	Katherine Clark
6th	60%	40%	Seth Moulton
7th	85%	15%	Ayanna Pressley
8th	63%	37%	Stephen Lynch
9th	54%	46%	Bill Keating

Notes

1. Numbered as the 9th district from 2001–2013
2. Key:
   A – all adults
   RV – registered voters
   LV – likely voters
   V – unclear
3. "Other" with 1%
4. "Refused" with 1%

Partisan clients

1. This poll was sponsored by the Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance, a Republican-aligned group.
2. This poll was sponsored by Priorities for Progress, a Democratic-aligned group.

References

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47. UMass Amherst
48. UMass Lowell
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50. MassINC Polling Group (D)
51. MassINC Polling Group
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54. MassINC Polling Group (D)
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59. "With my friend Geoff Diehl today at the Marlborough Gun Show collecting signatures. I'm so thankful for all the amazing volunteers out this weekend helping us collect signatures, as well as all the people who took the time to sign". Facebook. March 26, 2022. Retrieved November 23, 2024.
60. "I wanted to reach out and share with you some very good news! I am now officially endorsed by the Massachusetts Fraternal Order of Police! The Fraternal Order of Police is the world's largest organization of sworn law enforcement officers, with more than 365,000 members! The Massachusetts Fraternal Order of Police was chartered and incorporated in 1995. The organization established its first office in the Boston area and set about informing local police departments about the benefits of joining a national organization like the Fraternal Order of Police. The Endorsement Letter is dated August 18, 2022. Thank you for your continued support. With your help, we can win this election!". Facebook. August 30, 2022. Retrieved November 23, 2024.
61. Kashinsky, Lisa (February 2, 2022). "Campbell launches AG bid". www.politico.com. Politico . Retrieved April 7, 2022. Former U.S. attorney for Massachusetts Andrew Lelling won't be running for governor or attorney general this year, despite fielding calls from Republicans encouraging him to seek either seat
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External links

• Andrea Campbell (D) for Attorney General
• Jay McMahon (R) for Attorney General
• Shannon Liss-Riordan (D) for Attorney General
• Quentin Palfrey (D) for Attorney General Archived August 27, 2018, at the Wayback Machine