Politics

Gov. candidate backs away from GOP label

Mike Minogue, a businessman, is running for governor as a Republican while portraying himself as an independent voice.

Mike Minogue. Lane Turner / The Boston Globe

December 2, 2025

3 minutes to read

Next year, Gov. Maura Healey will seek a second term. Who her Republican opponent will be in the general election is an open question, and three major candidates are currently jockeying for position: Mike Kennealy, Brian Shortsleeve, and Mike Minogue.

A new wrinkle was added into the primary race last week after Minogue, a former biotechnology executive, said that he does not “identify with a party.” Kennealy and Shortsleeve both seized on the comments, painting Minogue as someone unwilling to help strengthen the Massachusetts Republican Party and uncommitted to its principles.

Pitching himself as a “new kind of candidate,” Minogue told WBUR that he has been registered as both an independent and a Republican.

“Well, I think there’s two parties and you have to pick,” Minogue told the station when pressed on why he is not running as an independent candidate. “I’m focused on bringing the ground game. I’m focused on bringing the answers on the issues that matter to most people. And we’ve never had an independent governor. So I align with the Republican Party on my principles, but I’m also a business person, a leader, and a veteran, and I’m only focused on Massachusetts.”

Kennealy and Shortsleeve both served in the administration of former Gov. Charlie Baker, a popular Republican who largely governed as a moderate. In response to Minogue’s comments, the Kennealy and Shortsleeve campaigns sought to bolster their GOP bona fides.

“Mike Kennealy has spent years strengthening our party — first as the MassGOP’s finance chair and chair of its Legislative Support Fund, and now as a candidate for Governor. Kennealy was also the single largest donor to Republicans in the 2024 election cycle. Minogue’s comments are deeply concerning, especially given that he only recently registered as a Republican and has consistently kept the party and its supporters at arm’s length.” Logan Trupiano, a spokesperson for Kennealy, said in a statement to Boston.com.

Shortsleeve’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment Monday, but a spokesperson told The Boston Herald that the party could not nominate a leader who does not identify as a member of the GOP.

“In order to win elections, the Republican Party must be committed to fundamental principles of fiscal responsibility, low taxes, individual freedom and public safety, not simply a vehicle for the political ambitions of a billionaire who flipped a coin to decide what party to join,” the spokesperson told the Herald in a statement. “[Shortsleeve] knows what he believes and why he believes it and is running for governor to do something, not be somebody.”

In a deep-blue state with a general electorate that largely dislikes President Donald Trump, aligning too closely with the party’s national brand could hurt any of the three candidates in a matchup with Healey. But doing so could also be the key to winning the support of GOP voters in the primary.

Shortsleeve, who has tacked to the right on a number of issues and proudly labels himself a “conservative” on his campaign website, appears to be well-positioned. A Suffolk University/Boston Globe poll conducted in mid-November found that Shortsleeve has the support of 22% of likely Republican voters, compared to Kennealy’s 13% and Minogue’s 6%. A University of New Hampshire poll from September found Shortsleeve leading Kennealy 31% to 22%, but did not include Minogue.

But Election Day is still 10 months away, and the polling picture is not entirely clear. A recent UMass Amherst/WCVB poll found Kennealy in the lead with 37% support, compared to Minogue’s 23% and Shortsleeve’s 22%.

There are voters to be won over. In the UMass poll, 52% of Republican primary voters described themselves as being not very familiar or completely unfamiliar with the three candidates. The Suffolk poll found that 59% of primary voters are undecided.