BOSTON — Beacon Hill’s traditionally male-dominated power structure is set for a major change come January, when a nearly all-female slate of elected officials will take over the state’s top constitutional offices.
Topping the roster of female politicians coming to power is Democratic governor-elect Maura Healey and lieutenant governor-elect elect Kim Driscoll, who defeated Republican Geoff Diehl and his running-mate, Leah Allen, in Tuesday’s election.
Besides being the first woman to win the governor’s office, Healey is also the first openly gay person to hold the state’s top elected post.
Healey acknowledged the glass-ceiling shattering moment Tuesday night when she spoke to her supporters at a victory party.
“I want to say something to every little girl and every young LGBTQ person out there,” she told the crowd at a Boston hotel. “I hope tonight shows you that you can be whatever, whoever you want to be.”
But Healey and Driscoll were among a crop of female candidates elected in Tuesday’s midterm elections, clinching five of the six top statewide offices.
Andrea Campbell, a Democrat and former Boston city councilor who won the race to succeed Healey as attorney general, is the first Black woman to be elected to statewide office in Massachusetts.
Democrat Diana Dizoglio, a Methuen state senator, won the state auditor’s race after defeating Republican Anthony Amore and three other independent candidates. Meanwhile, Deborah Goldberg, a Democrat, won reelection as state treasurer.
In the state Legislature, Senate President Karen Spilka, an Ashland Democrat, won another two-year term after facing no opposition on the ballot.
Erin O’Brien, an associate professor of political science at the University of Massachusetts at Boston, said Beacon Hill governance will likely be different under female leadership as research suggests that women in politics prioritize women’s issues differently than their male counterparts.
“That’s not to say they legislate only as women, or that they govern only as women,” she said. “They care about getting reelected just like every other politician.”
O’Brien points out that neither Healey nor Driscoll ran for office on breaking through the glass ceiling, and she expects them for continue to focus on issues that matter to a broad spectrum of constituents.
“The idea that women are going to legislate, or work from the corner office, with an exclusively female lens just isn’t true,” she said.
But the success of women in Massachusetts and other states in the recent election is also likely to inspire new generations of women to run for elected office. They say the uplift is especially important given the dejection that many young women felt after Hillary Clinton lost the 2016 presidential election to Donald Trump.
One of the first post-election stops for Healey and Driscoll on Wednesday was the Lynn Girls Club, where the pair spoke to a group of elementary school girls.
To be sure, one realm of Beacon Hill’s power structure that remains largely male dominated is the Legislature, where roughly 70% of lawmakers are men.
While several new female lawmakers were elected Tuesday, observers say the House and Senate have a long way to go in terms of gender equality.
“It’s still the worst in New England in terms of electing women,” O’Brien said. “So while Tuesday’s results are historic, there’s a lot of work to do in the Legislature.”
Christian M. Wade covers the Massachusetts Statehouse for North of Boston Media Group’s newspapers and websites. Email him at cwade@cnhinews.com.