Bill Galvin | |
---|---|
27th Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts | |
Assumed office January 1, 1995 | |
Governor | |
Preceded by | Michael J. Connolly |
Member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives | |
In office January 1975 –January 1991 | |
Preceded by | Michael Daly |
Succeeded by | Susan Tracy |
Constituency | 27th Suffolk (1975–1979) 19th Suffolk (1979–1991) |
Personal details | |
Born | William Francis Galvin September 17,1950 Brighton,Massachusetts,U.S. |
Political party | Democratic |
Spouse | Eileen Galvin |
Children | Bridget Galvin |
Education | Boston College (BA) Suffolk University (JD) |
Signature | |
Website | Government website |
William Francis Galvin (born September 17,1950) is an American politician who serves as the 27th Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth.
Galvin was born and raised in the Brighton neighborhood of Boston. [1] He attended Saint Mary's High School in Waltham,Massachusetts [2] and graduated in 1968. [3] Galvin graduated cum laude [4] from Boston College in 1972 [5] and received a Juris Doctor from Suffolk University Law School [6] in 1976. [4]
Galvin began his political career in 1972 as an aide to the Massachusetts Governor's Council after graduating from Boston College,thanks to his connection with councilor Herb Connolly,whom Galvin had campaigned for. Galvin worked part-time at the council while attending Suffolk Law School full-time. [7] Galvin won a special election to the open seat in the Massachusetts General Court in 1975,after State Representative Michael Daly departed from office;the race had nine candidates. Galvin became the Massachusetts state representative from the Allston-Brighton district,the same year he graduated from law school. [7] He was the Democratic nominee for Massachusetts State Treasurer in 1990,but was defeated by Republican Joe Malone. [7] It was during this election that he was given the nickname "The Prince of Darkness",in reference to his habit of working late into the night and making legislative deals behind closed doors. [8] [9] He was first elected Secretary of the Commonwealth in 1994,and has retained this title longer than any other politician in Massachusetts history. [10]
Galvin has been an active participant in the National Association of Secretaries of State,serving first as Chairman of the Standing Committee on Securities,then as co-chairman of the Committee on Presidential Primaries.
At one point during the administration of Gov. Mitt Romney and Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey,Galvin became the Acting Governor of Massachusetts when both Romney and Healey were out of the state. During the administration of former Acting Governor Jane Swift,Galvin automatically became Acting Governor whenever Swift left the state,since there was no lieutenant governor in office at the time. When Swift gave birth to twins in 2001,she chose to keep full executive authority and did not hand over the governorship at any point to Galvin. [7]
While it had been widely rumored that Galvin would run for Governor of Massachusetts in 2006 as a Democrat,he announced at the end of 2005 that he would instead seek reelection as Secretary of State. Voting rights advocate John Bonifaz had already declared that he would run for the office,and stayed in the race to challenge Galvin for re-election. However,Galvin defeated Bonifaz in the September 19 Democratic primary. Galvin defeated Green-Rainbow Party candidate Jill Stein,a medical doctor and environmental health advocate who ran for Governor in 2002,in the November general election.
The Democratic primary race received relatively little attention or press coverage for most of 2006,but in the last few weeks before election,a controversy over Galvin's refusal to debate his opponent broke into the news with a front-page story in The Boston Sunday Globe. [11] This is the first time a front-page story appeared about this race in any major Boston paper.
In November 2017,Boston City Council member Josh Zakim announced that he would run for Secretary of the Commonwealth,challenging fellow-Democrat Galvin in the 2018 election. [12] Amid the primary challenge,Galvin came out in favor of same-day voter registration and automatic voter registration. [13] Previously,Galvin had expressed skepticism of automatic voter registration,and had appealed a Superior Court ruling which struck down a state law requiring that voters be registered 20 days prior to an election in order to vote in it. [14] [15] [16] On June 2,2018,Zakim won the endorsement of the Massachusetts Democratic Party at its state convention,defeating Galvin,55% to 45%. [17] Galvin subsequently defeated Zakim in the Democratic primary on September 4,with 67% of the vote. [18] On November 6,Galvin won re-election as Secretary of the Commonwealth. [19]
This section is empty. You can help by adding to it. (July 2023) |
An investigation by the US Justice Department found that Galvin, as Massachusetts Secretary of State, had violated the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act. The Office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth was found to have failed to collect and report data on absentee ballots sent, returned, and cast by overseas citizens and military personnel registered to vote in Massachusetts, as required by the law since amendments in 2002. The lawsuit was settled out of court, requiring Galvin to comply with the law. [20]
On January 14, 2009, Galvin filed suit against Robert Jaffe to compel Jaffe to testify about his role in the Bernard Madoff investment scandal. Jaffe, who lives in Weston, Massachusetts and in Florida, countered that he is actually one of the victims of Madoff. [21] Jaffe is married to Ellen Shapiro, daughter of Boston philanthropist Carl Shapiro. Jaffe reportedly convinced the elder Shapiro to invest $250 million with Madoff about 10 days before Madoff's arrest. [22] [23]
In September 2021, Massachusetts regulators fined MassMutual $4 million for failing to supervise the trading activity of their employee Keith Gill, a leading player in the GameStop short squeeze which led to hedge funds losing billions. Galvin characterised Gill as a professional trader/dealer, citing his 1,700 trades on behalf of three other individuals. However, Galvin failed to disclose that the three individuals were all members of Gill's family and that less than 5% of the 1,700 trades were for GameStop. Following his pursuit of litigation against Gill, it was reported that Galvin was engaging in partisan politics and had opposed bilingual ballots in contravention of the Voting Rights Act. [24]
This section of a biography of a living person does not include any references or sources .(August 2022) |
Massachusetts House of Representatives 27th Suffolk District Special Democratic Primary Election, 1975 | |||
---|---|---|---|
Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
Democratic | William Francis Galvin | 1,266 | 30.5 |
Democratic | James Lawrence Sullivan | 655 | 15.8 |
Democratic | Michael Hanaon, Jr. | 512 | 12.3 |
Democratic | Ronald Capling | 380 | 9.2 |
Democratic | David Graham | 375 | 9.0 |
Democratic | Dante Mummolo | 335 | 8.1 |
Democratic | Donald Feener | 319 | 7.7 |
Democratic | Albert Mancini | 161 | 3.9 |
Democratic | Donald Williams | 149 | 3.6 |
Massachusetts House of Representatives 27th Suffolk District Special Election, 1975 | |||
---|---|---|---|
Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
Democratic | William Francis Galvin | 517 | 100.0 |
Massachusetts House of Representatives 27th Suffolk District Election, 1976 | |||
---|---|---|---|
Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
Democratic | William Francis Galvin (inc.) | 5,131 | 100.0 |
Massachusetts House of Representatives 19th Suffolk District Election, 1978 | |||
---|---|---|---|
Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
Democratic | William Francis Galvin (inc.) | 5,503 | 100.0 |
Massachusetts House of Representatives 19th Suffolk District Republican Primary Election, 1980 | |||
---|---|---|---|
Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
Republican/Write-in | William Francis Galvin (inc.) | 124 | 47.1 |
Republican | Joan Kiley | 85 | 32.3 |
Republican | Michael Marion | 54 | 20.5 |
Massachusetts House of Representatives 19th Suffolk District Election, 1980 | |||
---|---|---|---|
Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
Democratic | William Francis Galvin (inc.) | 6,673 | 100.0 |
Write-ins | Write-ins | 2 | 0.0 |
Massachusetts House of Representatives 19th Suffolk District Election, 1982 | |||
---|---|---|---|
Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
Democratic | William Francis Galvin (inc.) | 5,230 | 100.0 |
Massachusetts House of Representatives 19th Suffolk District Election, 1984 | |||
---|---|---|---|
Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
Democratic | William Francis Galvin (inc.) | 8,248 | 100.0 |
Write-ins | Write-ins | 3 | 0.0 |
Massachusetts House of Representatives 19th Suffolk District Democratic Primary Election, 1986 | |||
---|---|---|---|
Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
Democratic | William Francis Galvin (inc.) | 3,311 | 65.5 |
Democratic | Helene Solomon | 1,744 | 34.5 |
Massachusetts House of Representatives 19th Suffolk District Election, 1986 | |||
---|---|---|---|
Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
Democratic | William Francis Galvin (inc.) | 5,044 | 99.9 |
Write-ins | Write-ins | 3 | 0.1 |
Massachusetts House of Representatives 19th Suffolk District Election, 1988 | |||
---|---|---|---|
Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
Democratic | William Francis Galvin (inc.) | 6,433 | 82.1 |
Republican | Michael Wilcon | 1,406 | 17.9 |
Massachusetts Treasurer Democratic Primary Election, 1990 | |||
---|---|---|---|
Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
Democratic | William Francis Galvin | 489,512 | 51.0 |
Democratic | George Keverian | 287,626 | 30.0 |
Democratic | Dick Kraus | 182,715 | 19.0 |
Democratic | Write-ins | 436 | 0.0 |
Massachusetts Treasurer Election, 1990 | |||
---|---|---|---|
Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
Republican | Joseph Malone | 1,298,521 | 57.2 |
Democratic | William Francis Galvin | 825,808 | 36.4 |
Independent High Tech | David Nash | 143,324 | 6.3 |
Write-ins | Write-ins | 753 | 0.0 |
Massachusetts Secretary of Commonwealth Democratic Primary Election, 1994 | |||
---|---|---|---|
Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
Democratic | William Francis Galvin | 262,018 | 63.7 |
Democratic | Augusto Grace | 148,785 | 36.2 |
Democratic | Write-ins | 418 | 0.1 |
Massachusetts Secretary of Commonwealth Election, 1994 | |||
---|---|---|---|
Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
Democratic | William Francis Galvin | 1,077,506 | 54.7 |
Republican | Arthur Chase | 813,068 | 41.3 |
Libertarian | Peter Everett | 77,584 | 3.9 |
Write-ins | Write-ins | 567 | 0.0 |
Massachusetts Secretary of Commonwealth Election, 1998 | |||
---|---|---|---|
Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
Democratic | William Francis Galvin (inc.) | 1,252,912 | 69.9 |
Republican | Dale Jenkins, Jr. | 451,556 | 25.2 |
Libertarian | David Atkinson | 87,196 | 4.9 |
Write-ins | Write-ins | 680 | 0.0 |
Massachusetts Secretary of Commonwealth Election, 2002 | |||
---|---|---|---|
Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
Democratic | William Francis Galvin (inc.) | 1,472,562 | 74.0 |
Republican | Jack Robinson, III | 516,260 | 25.9 |
Write-ins | Write-ins | 1,832 | 0.1 |
Massachusetts Secretary of Commonwealth Democratic Primary Election, 2006 | |||
---|---|---|---|
Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
Democratic | William Francis Galvin (inc.) | 635,002 | 82.9 |
Democratic | John Bonifaz | 129,323 | 16.9 |
Democratic | Write-ins | 2,003 | 0.3 |
Massachusetts Secretary of Commonwealth Election, 2006 | |||
---|---|---|---|
Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
Democratic | William Francis Galvin (inc.) | 1,638,594 | 82.0 |
Green-Rainbow | Jill Stein | 353,551 | 17.7 |
Write-ins | Write-ins | 5,715 | 0.3 |
Massachusetts Secretary of Commonwealth Election, 2010 | |||
---|---|---|---|
Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
Democratic | William Francis Galvin (inc.) | 1,420,481 | 64.4 |
Republican | William Campbell | 720,967 | 32.7 |
Independent | James Henderson | 61,812 | 2.8 |
Write-ins | Write-ins | 1,425 | 0.1 |
Massachusetts Secretary of Commonwealth Election, 2014 | |||
---|---|---|---|
Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
Democratic | William Francis Galvin (inc.) | 1,395,616 | 67.4 |
Republican | David D'arcangelo | 597,491 | 28.9 |
Green-Rainbow | Daniel Factor | 74,789 | 3.6 |
Write-ins | Write-ins | 1,421 | 0.1 |
Massachusetts Secretary of Commonwealth Democratic Primary Election, 2018 | |||
---|---|---|---|
Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
Democratic | William Francis Galvin (inc.) | 435,244 | 67.4 |
Democratic | Josh Zakim | 209,047 | 32.4 |
Democratic | Write-ins | 1,605 | 0.2 |
Massachusetts Secretary of Commonwealth Election, 2018 | |||
---|---|---|---|
Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
Democratic | William Francis Galvin (inc.) | 1,860,189 | 70.83 |
Republican | Anthony Amore | 667,433 | 25.41 |
Green-Rainbow | Juan Sanchez | 98,831 | 3.76 |
Massachusetts Secretary of Commonwealth Election, 2022 | |||
---|---|---|---|
Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
Democratic | William Francis Galvin (inc.) | 1,663,496 | 67.68 |
Republican | Rayla Campbell | 721,261 | 29.34 |
Green-Rainbow | Juan Sanchez | 71,662 | 2.92 |
John C. Bonifaz is an Amherst-based attorney and political activist specializing in constitutional law and voting rights. He is the president and co-founder of Free Speech for People. He is also the founder of the National Voting Rights Institute and a former candidate for Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth. In 1999, he received a MacArthur Fellowship, popularly known as the "genius award."
The secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a constitutional officer in the executive branch of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Originally appointed under authority of the English Crown pursuant to the Charter of the Massachusetts Bay Company, the office of secretary of the Commonwealth became an elective one in 1780. Twenty-seven individuals have occupied the office of secretary of the Commonwealth over the ensuing centuries. The incumbent is William F. Galvin, a Democrat who has held the office since 1995.
The 2006 Massachusetts general election was held on November 7, 2006, throughout Massachusetts.
Sonia Rosa Chang-Díaz is an American politician who served in the Massachusetts Senate from the 2nd Suffolk district as a member of the Democratic Party. She was the first Hispanic woman elected to the state senate. She ran for the Democratic nomination for Governor of Massachusetts in the 2022 election.
Robert M. Jaffe is an American stockbroker. He was a long-time associate of Ponzi schemer Bernard Madoff and promoted Madoff's fund to wealthy investors in Massachusetts and Florida.
Cohmad Securities was a US company whose main business was to introduce investors to the Bernard Madoff investment company for which it received commission based on the amount invested. The company, whose name combines “Cohn” and “Madoff,” was founded in 1985 by Bernard Madoff and Maurice Cohn, Madoff’s friend and former neighbor. Its office was located at the same address as Madoff's firm, and it employed between 10 and 20 employees with annual sales between $1M and $5M.
The Massachusetts general election, 2010 was held on November 2, 2010 throughout Massachusetts. Primary elections took place on September 14, 2010.
The 1926 United States Senate special election in Massachusetts was held on November 2, 1926.
A Massachusetts general election was held on November 5, 2002 in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
A Massachusetts general election was held on November 3, 1998 in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
A Massachusetts general election was held on November 7, 1978 in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
The United Independent Party or UIP was a political party based in Massachusetts, United States. The chairman of the UIP was Evan Falchuk, a former health care executive who submitted enough signatures to be on the 2014 gubernatorial ballot. When the party and Falchuk announced their intention to run in 2014, it billed itself as pragmatically progressive and fiscally sensible.
The 2018 Massachusetts gubernatorial election took place on November 6, 2018, to elect the governor and lieutenant governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Republican governor Charlie Baker and lieutenant governor Karyn Polito sought reelection to a second term in office, facing Democratic challengers Jay Gonzalez and Quentin Palfrey, respectively. Candidates were selected in the primary election held on September 4, 2018.
Josh Zakim is a Boston politician, attorney, and community activist. He formerly served on the Boston City Council representing District 8, which includes Boston's Back Bay, Beacon Hill, Fenway–Kenmore, Mission Hill, and West End neighborhoods.
The 2018 Massachusetts general election was held on November 6, 2018, throughout Massachusetts. Primary elections took place on September 4. Early voting took place from October 22 through November 2.
Washington Cook was an American politician who served one term on the Massachusetts Governor's Council. He was the brother of Massachusetts State Auditor Alonzo B. Cook.
Richard Henry Long (1865–1957) was an American businessman and politician who was the Democratic nominee for Governor of Massachusetts in 1918 and 1919. He lost both elections to future President of the United States Calvin Coolidge.
The 2020 Massachusetts general election was held on November 3, 2020, throughout Massachusetts. Primary elections were held on September 1, 2020.
Massachusetts Ranked-Choice Voting Initiative, also known as Question 2, was an initiative at the 2020 Massachusetts general election that would have changed primaries and elections in Massachusetts from plurality voting to ranked-choice voting (RCV) for all Massachusetts statewide offices, state legislative offices, federal congressional offices, and certain other offices beginning in 2022. RCV would not be extended to elections for president, county commissioner, or regional district school committee member. The initiative failed, with 54.8% of voters voting 'No' and 45.2% 'Yes'.
The 2022 Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth election was held on November 8, 2022, to elect the Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth. Incumbent Democrat William Galvin won re-election. Galvin has been Secretary since 1995. The last Republican to be elected to the position was Frederic Cook, in 1949. Only Cook has served a longer tenure as Secretary.