Many in the party are laser-focused on their gubernatorial primary, where the field includes three well-funded candidates who are taking shots at Massachusetts’ ongoing affordability crisis and Governor Maura Healey’s first-term record.
“We have intentionally tried to keep the focus on issues here in Massachusetts,” said Carnevale, who is hosting her first convention since being elected chair in 2023. “This is what the convention is about, electing candidates here at the state level.”
For years, the Massachusetts Republican Party has been split between Trump loyalists and moderates who backed former Governor Charlie Baker. But unlike the 2022 endorsing convention, which shone a spotlight on the party apparatus’s shift toward a Trump-brand of conservatism, the 2026 event marks a return toward the centrist Republican mold the party once followed to success.
“You’re going to hear a lot of what’s not right in Massachusetts right now,” said Wendy Wakeman, a Republican strategist and 2022 convention manager who has not endorsed a candidate for governor. Part of a successful pitch, Wakeman said, will hinge on whether Republicans can bat back Democrats’ efforts to make the race a referendum on the Trump administration.
“You’re not going to see our folks stand up and talk a lot about Trump and national issues, and I would argue that’s a great thing,” Wakeman added. The Democrats’ “whole game is being against Trump, and I’d like to see us elect some people who are for Massachusetts and not talking about the president all the time.”
That hasn’t stopped Democrats from casting each of the gubernatorial candidates as aligned with the Trump administration’s agenda — even before the convention has started.
“This weekend’s GOP convention will show that all three Republican candidates for Governor are in this race to serve Donald Trump, not the people of Massachusetts,” Steve Kerrigan, the state Democratic party chair, said in a statement Thursday, pointing to the Trump administration’s immigration policy, war in Iran, and federal funding cuts to health care.
Rather than defending the national party, each of the three candidates for governor is centering their campaigns on what they see as failings of the Healey administration.
Michael Minogue, a former biotech executive and one of three Republicans vying for the party’s gubernatorial nomination, has pitched himself as “a new kind of governor” for Massachusetts, and a no-nonsense political outsider whom voters can trust to run the state like a business.
In a statement, a campaign spokesperson said Minogue plans to speak about “his plan to bring accountability, affordability, opportunity, and ways to keep communities safe to Massachusetts.”
“It will be clear that Mike will be the new kind of governor to make Massachusetts the best place to live, work, and raise a family,” said Erin Maguire, the spokesperson.
Brian Shortsleeve, former general manager of the MBTA, is now running in part on a platform promising voters he’d run the state in the same fiscally conservative way he ran the T.
On Thursday, Shortsleeve said his speech will promise “basic cost control” when it comes to utility bills and taxes.
“My mission here is to restore affordability,” he told reporters after submitting signatures at the Secretary of the Commonwealth’s office to qualify for the ballot. “That starts with stripping fees … ending the tax on tips, the tax on overtime, rolling back the income tax.”
And Mike Kennealy, the first Republican to enter the race, has touted his experience as housing and economic secretary under Baker as emblematic of the collaborative approach he would take with cities and towns as governor.
“This convention is about direction. Massachusetts is facing an affordability crisis driven by Maura Healey’s reckless tax-and-spend policies, an out-of-touch climate agenda, and public frustration with the secrecy and one-party rule on Beacon Hill,” Kennealy said in a statement.
Janet Fogarty, a Massachusetts member of the Republican National Committee, called the three candidates “outstanding,” “well-heeled candidates that have the resources to go the distance against Healey.”
“The time is ripe because there’s so much disenchantment with her policies and the jobs she’s doing, so I think we’re in a good position,” Fogarty said.
Fogarty, who serves in the Trump administration, also said she saw less of an emphasis on federal policies: “The issues here in the Commonwealth are so paramount that that’s the focus.”
Candidates must earn at least 15 percent of delegate votes at the convention to make it onto September’s ballot.
Fogarty said she typically remains neutral through the state’s primaries, which take place Sept. 1. But this year, she believes Republicans should consider consolidating around the candidate nominated at the convention “for the good of the party” and to give them a longer runway to campaign against Healey without infighting.
The three wealthy contenders for governor have been something of a bright spot for a party that’s worked to rebuild after years of struggling under mounting debt.
Three years ago, Carnevale estimated the party may have owed various vendors as much as $600,000. The party ended March with a balance of just over $400,000.
The party already doubled the fee for gubernatorial candidates to speak at its convention, from $25,000 to $50,000. And late last year, the party accepted nearly $350,000 from US Senate candidate John Deaton to help settle various debts and legal bills — a record contribution that came in just weeks after the party’s leadership voted to endorse him.
It also made the unusual offer to media outlets, selling spots on the convention’s new “media row” for $500 a pop.
About 3,000 of the 4,200-plus delegates who qualified to attend are expected to turn up at Worcester’s DCU Center as of Thursday, and will pay a $200 fee. About 100 nonvoting guests will pay $100.
“We have some challenges — the party inherited a complete financial mess, which has really hamstrung us, and we’re still digging out of that hole,” said Sean Powers, a Republican state committee member who is also a delegate for Shortsleeve.
But Powers added that among Republicans, “despite whatever differences they have with the various candidates, there is this unifying feeling that we all have to come together to elect a new governor.”
Instead of Trump appointees or conservative Florida congressmen, speakers at this year’s convention have a more local flavor.
Beyond the statewide candidates — only the governor and lieutenant governor fields feature multiple candidates — the party has lined up speeches from Cape Cod gun store owner Toby Leary, Taunton Mayor Shaunna O’Connell, Plymouth County District Attorney Tim Cruz, and conservative talk show host and Boston Herald columnist Howie Carr.
The one exception is keynote speaker Seth Dillon, Florida-based CEO of the conservative satire site The Babylon Bee.
It will be curious to see how Dillon’s Bee, which has a Christian bend, lands in Massachusetts.
According to Pew Research, the state ranks in the bottom five for states where residents consider themselves religious.
Samantha J. Gross can be reached at samantha.gross@globe.com. Follow her @samanthajgross. Anjali Huynh can be reached at anjali.huynh@globe.com.
