The Horse Race

Latest Episodes:

Episode 113: Deval In Good Time Jan 08, 2020

Show notes

1/8/2020-- After a long winter's nap, The Horse Race is back up and running, starting the new year with a bang. The first guest of 2020 is former Massachusetts governor and Democratic presidential candidate Deval Patrick. Patrick announced his candidacy this November, long after his fellow contenders, throwing his hat into the already crowded ring in a self-described 'long shot' of a campaign. He explained on the show he was ready to make this very announcement more than a year ago. Shortly before he intended to break the news, however, his wife Diane was diagnosed with cancer. Today, she is cancer-free, and Patrick spots a void among Democratic contenders that he thinks he can fill. He describes President Trump as divisive and says, "I am concerned that some of the Democratic candidates are offering a Democratic version of the same thing rather than seeing this as an opportunity to unite us around solutions to common challenges." Turning to transportation in Massachusetts, Patrick's calls for new revenue echo those he made back during his own 2007-2015 administration. "The T has needed significant investment to be a 21st century T for a long time, and we've been making that point and have made it twice." He cites his attempts to generate new revenue, beginning with his 2009 proposal to raise the gas tax that was swiftly shot down by the legislature. Patrick then pushed for new revenue through means other than a gas tax, and finally in 2013, vetoed a transportation funding package because he thought the gas tax increase included in it was too low. This veto was overruled by a House vote, and the gas tax went into effect, but the law mandating automatic adjustments according to inflation was repealed by voters via a 2014 ballot measure. Had the law remained in place, this would have allowed for annual increases to the gas tax. Instead, it's remained at 24 cents per gallon since 2013. "No amount of reorganization is going to deliver a 21st century T," Patrick said. "It is going to require significant new investment."

Episode 112: Foresight is 2020 Dec 18, 2019

Show notes

12/18/19-- The holidays are upon us here at The Horse Race (The Reindeer Race?), and we're wrapping up our last episode of the year, sticking on a bright, shiny bow, and presenting it to you. Thanks for listening in 2019! We begin with the news of the day, and that of course, is the House vote on articles of impeachment. And, further from the limelight but relevant both to U.S. Congress and to us Bay Staters is news that the House Ethics Committee is conducting a further probe of Congresswoman Lori Trahan, whose compliance with campaign finance law came into question earlier this year upon discovery that her husband donated $300,000 to her 2018 campaign. Looking to the Massachusetts 4th Congressional District, yet another candidate in the crowded field vying for this spot joins us on The Horse Race. Alan Khazei is an entrepreneur who co-founded the education non-profit City Year and ran for U.S. Senate twice (in 2010 and 2012). Now, he's in the midst of a campaign focused on issues of climate change, gun control, and national service. Finally, Steve and Stephanie look ahead to 2020, predicting what may come to pass on both the national and state stages. From impeachment to transportation funding to housing choice legislation, there's a lot to watch unfold (or fall flat) next year. We hope you'll join us as we break it all down.

Episode 111: The Poll-ar Express Dec 12, 2019

Show notes

12/11/19--It's a big day for polls here at The Horse Race, and we begin the discussion with one that surveyed New Hampshire voters on the Democratic primary contenders. It finds Pete Buttigieg in the lead among registered voters in the state with 18% support. Meanwhile, Joe Biden sits at a close second place with 17%. As Steve points out, it's important to note how close this race remains. The top 4 contenders rank within 6 percentage points of each other in this early primary contest. Plus, there's still much to be determined as about 1 in 5 likely voters haven't yet made up their mind. Turning now--as we are wont to do--to transportation, Boston Globe reporter Adam Vaccaro stops by to run through the safety report on the MBTA conducted by an independent panel of experts. Here's the major takeaway: things are bad. In the agency's efforts to expedite long-term capital improvements, a focus on keeping up with daily operations is falling by the wayside. And safety, as a result, is being sacrificed. The MassINC Polling Group Research Director Rich Parr rounds out the show with a look at a regional poll focused on the Transportation Climate Initiative (TCI). TCI is a collaborative effort between 12 states and the District of Columbia currently developing a policy to cap carbon pollution from transportation and invest in transportation improvements. The poll finds that the initiative enjoys broad support among registered voters in the seven largest states at the TCI table: Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.

Episode 110: The Fourth Awakens Dec 04, 2019

Show notes

12/4/2019--The first snowfall has officially landed in Boston, which means cozy sweaters, romantic tree lightings, and of course, more MBTA dysfunction. In other news, the People's Pledge is making a reappearance after its first installation during the 2012 Elizabeth Warren/Scott Brown Senate race. The pact aims to limit outside spending. While Senate candidates Joe Kennedy and Shannon Liss-Riordan signed the pledge on Monday, incumbent Ed Markey proposed a pledge of his own that stipulates outside spending dedicated to "positive messages" should not be limited. He pointed to groups like climate activists and reproductive rights organizations who he thinks should be allowed to spend for a campaign. Controversy is bubbling up in the wake of a scheduling decision regarding special elections. The date set for the special elections of four legislators (whose seats were vacated by now mayors) has been set for the same day as the presidential primary. Because the primary will inherently draw out droves of Democrats, the move to also schedule special elections on that date elicits the question of fairness. Two candidates running for the Massachusetts 4th Congressional seat joined as guests on The Horse Race today. First is Jesse Mermell. She's the former president of Alliance for Business Leadership, worked as communications director during Deval Patrick's governorship and served as Vice President of the Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts. She says she's running for Congress because, "The people and places that we love and the progress that's so vital to the future of this country are under attack, and I think that the people of the 4th Congressional district deserve a Congresswoman --a Congresswoman-- who won't just fight back against the hate and the backwards thinking that's coming out of the White House but will also fight for the future that we all deserve." When asked what makes her stand out in this crowded field of six candidates, Mermell says, "These aren't just policies that I hold as a Progressive, these aren't just values that I espouse to, it's work that I've done over 20 years." Ihssane Leckey was the first to announce her candidacy for the MA4 seat, doing so even before Kennedy resigned, as a challenge to him. She's confident she brings a unique perspective to the field of candidates as a sex abuse survivor, immigrant, and former Wall Street regulator, and was motivated to run after Trump's election. She told The Horse Race, "Once Trump was elected, my identities have been attacked on so many different levels." She's also troubled by what she sees as irresponsibility by the Trump administration in an economic context. "So, when recessions happen what is going to happen now if these big banks were affected? Are they going to be able to bail themselves out? The answer right now, is probably not, because I saw how the Trump administration had started to take away any protection that I worked on putting in place for our people," Leckey says.

Episode 109: The Horse Race Turkey Trot Nov 27, 2019

Show notes

11/27/19--Happy Thanksgiving, #mapoli! In today's holiday bonus episode, Stephanie Murray calls in from Manchester, New Hampshire with a quick recap of Deval Patrick's appearance at Politics and Eggs. What questions did reporters have? Is he covering enough ground to make a name for himself in this race? Enjoy this small bite of political coverage while you enjoy many, many bites of turkey and stuffing. We'll be back next week with a new episode. See you then.

Episode 108: Deval's Well That Ends Well Nov 21, 2019

Show notes

11/20/19-- If you've heard it once, you've heard it a thousand times. Traffic in Boston is bad. As we've mentioned on the show before, it's so bad, it makes commuters consider quitting their jobs or moving elsewhere. This week, the Boston Globe's Spotlight team published the first two installments of its three-part series on traffic in Massachusetts. Regular host and this-time guest Steve Koczela joins Stephanie and Jennifer to talk about the Globe's findings. Notably, the team of writers and researchers surveyed all 206 state elected officials. A little over half responded, and only 5 reported having transit passes. Presumably, the rest of them are driving. Steve pointed out that in the MassINC Polling Group's years asking folks about transportation, the Globe series reflects what his team's been hearing from surveys and focus groups - sense of alarm and frustration. In MPG's most recent poll, participants were asked whether they believed improvements should be made to the agencies that manage transportation before money is spent, or money should be spent immediately to improve transportation. By a 25-point margin, people prioritize the latter - in Steve's words, "People are done waiting." Boston City Council President Andrea Campbell's two-year term is coming to an end, and she makes an appearance on The Horse Race to reflect on how the Council has changed under her tenure, and what work still lies ahead. Campbell says the most exciting thing she's been able to do as City Council President was to bring the council as an institution through racial equity training. In recent years, she says, the body has proven it can get stuff done and should be taken seriously. "I think people are seeing that this body has incredible power, even if it doesn't formally on paper have a lot of defined power." City Council members have exhibited their powers through the use of ordinances, and currently, Campbell is working on creating an office of Inspector General for the City of Boston through an ordinance. As we mentioned in last week's show, former Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick is running for President. The former executive director of Governor Patrick’s political committee, Alex Goldstein, says it'll be an uphill battle for the candidate, given the pre-existing narratives built by the rest of the field. But, Goldstein says, given the current tumultuous political landscape, "I think people are ready to feel good for like ten minutes and to feel like there’s a reason to be empathetic and care about your neighbors again. And I don’t think there’s anybody who I’ve seen in politics who does a better job of capturing that than Deval Patrick.”

Episode 107: The Times They Aren't A Changin Nov 14, 2019

Show notes

11/13/19-- Massachusetts elected officials -- both current and former -- just can't seem to resist the pull of the Presidency. Former Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick is running for the Democratic nomination for president, sources tell CNN. He's scheduled to officially announce on Friday. That will bring the tally to 3 Bay Staters who've competed in the 2020 race. Perhaps these candidates feel emboldened by their history governing in in what's perceived a progressive state, but when it comes to fair and accurate representation, Massachusetts is in desperate need of some progress. According to a new MassINC study, the demographic and partisan makeup of the Massachusetts state legislature vastly underrepresents its electorate. In order to achieve balance, the legislature would need an additional 31 members of color, 47 female members, and 16 Republican members. Ben Forman, co-author of the report and research director at MassINC, stopped by the podcast to provide an in-depth look at what the report covers. One of the stumbling blocks preventing equal representation is Massachusetts' lack of electoral competition. In fact, it ranks as the least competitive of all fifty states. One solution the report proposes is public financing, which requires candidates or parties to accept public funding in exchange for a promise to limit how much they spend and receive in donations. This is a measure, Forman says, Massachusetts voters "like." "They passed it by a very large majority, and the legislature didn't want to do it. Well, 20 years later, I think there's more awareness that that has had a cost in terms of female representation and people of color." Low voter turnout is another symptom of Massachusetts' current system, and the report calls for synchronizing state and local elections to reduce election overload. The current system that requires voters to hit the polls frequently was designed to suppress voices of color, says Forman. "We moved municipal elections to off years, I think, intentionally, to lower turnout because people were concerned about too many people of color coming out to vote and changing communities. That's the history that we should acknowledge and call out."

Episode 106: PAC It Up, PAC It In Nov 06, 2019

Show notes

11/6/19-- Communities scattered throughout Massachusetts held elections on Tuesday. One of those communities was Boston, whose newly elected City Council makes history as its most diverse yet, with 7 people of color and 8 women making up the majority of the 13-person council. The fourth-highest vote-getter among the at-large candidates, Julia Mejia, won her seat by a margin of only 10 votes, prompting fifth-place finisher Alejandra St. Guillen to call for a recount. Stephanie Murray noted, “10 votes could be a couple of absentee ballots; it could be a broken voting machine; it could also be one of those ballots where you vote for too many candidates and then your ballot gets thrown out altogether.” Last month, reports revealed a Super PAC with close ties to Governor Charlie Baker raising money for local candidates across the Commonwealth. The Massachusetts Majority Super PAC raised $1 million, and funded candidates like Monica Medeiros for Mayor of Melrose and Jennifer Nassour for Boston City Council, both these and other candidates supported by the PAC were endorsed by Baker. Boston Business Journal digital editor Gintautus Dumcius reported on this PAC, telling The Horse Race that it really got going in May 2019, when the split between then-recently elected MassGOP chairman Jim Lyons and Baker began to widen. Speaking about the MassGOP, Dumcius said, “Now that there is a top Trump person in charge in Jim Lyons, we’ve seen that break grow and grow, and it seems like this super PAC is trying to fill the gaps. The 2012 Right to Repair ballot question passed into law the following year, and now, the coalition that proposed it is returning with a potential ballot question for 2020 that would update the current law. WBUR reports the law would include a provision mandating that, beginning in model year 2022, manufacturers that sell cars in Massachusetts be outfit them with a “standardized and open access platform” that would make data about the car’s performance available to the car owner as well as dealerships and independent repair shops. Conor Yunits is a spokesman for the Coalition for Safe and Secure Data, and he says the proposed bill would make drivers vulnerable to breaches of privacy. Yunits told The Horse Race if the bill were to pass, “That really exposes information to hackers, criminals, bad actors, foreign companies, anyone that’s looking to get real-time location data and other information on people that are driving their vehicles.”

Episode 105: The Headless Horse Race Oct 30, 2019

Show notes

10/30/19-- Happy Halloween, #mapoli, and welcome to the Headless Horse Race. Steve and Stephanie are donning their witch hats and digging into the latest news in the Commonwealth. We begin with Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley's endorsement of the former head of the Massachusetts Alliance for Business Leadership Jesse Mermell in the District 4 House race. Pressley’s endorsements have been the subject of national headlines, Stephanie points out. It wasn’t so long ago that Pressley was the recipient of a mere fraction of the high-profile endorsements that went to her competitor Mike Capuano, whom she beat handily. Does Pressley herself, then, illustrate that endorsements aren’t all that powerful? Legislators today heard from the business community on how they think transportation should be funded. CommonWealth reports, before a legislative debate on transportation commences tomorrow, Jim Rooney, president and CEO of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, presented support for additional revenues. That included increasing ride-share fees, launching a transportation climate initiative, and even raising the gas tax. Couple that with Transportation for Massachusetts’ discussion today on what they believe are the right funding methods, and it’s clear that movement on transportation funding is coming. We’ll be talking about it as it takes shape, so stay tuned. And in local news, Stephanie’s been following an attempted progressive takeover of Boston’s Ward 18. The Progressive West Roxbury/Roslindale group is recruiting progressive candidates to run together as a slate, with the goal of making Ward members more representative demographically. Boston City Councilor Michelle Wu is voicing support for this, and if progressives were to take over Ward 18, it’d be a significant boon for a potential Wu mayoral campaign. The first guest on the pod today is Newton City Councilor and District 4 congressional candidate Jake Auchincloss. His platform includes a focus on transportation, insisting that, "the next Congressman from the Massachusetts 4th needs to bring back federal funding for Massachusetts transportation," and build more collaboration between state and local agencies with the help of those dollars. Friend of the pod and CommonWealth Magazine reporter Andy Metzger drops by the bunker next to dispel wisdom alongside horse puns. House Speaker Robert DeLeo is seeking another term, he announced this week. In the past, he led the way to end term limits, but later pushed to get them abolished so that he could continue his position. He's already the longest continually serving Speaker, but according to Andy, not all House members take issue with his long-held leadership. "I think that members who are kind of backbenchers have been tired of Speaker DeLeo's style of leadership for quite some time, but members who chair committees or hold leadership posts, at least, they say they're not."

Episode 104: Pollin', Pollin', Pollin' on the River Oct 23, 2019

Show notes

10/23/19-- On today's episode of The Horse Race, Jenn and Steve tackle news on the local, state, and national stage. Beginning with local, Jenn provides updates on the Boston City Council forum that took place last night, noting that one of the biggest points of daylight among the candidates were their responses to Operation Clean Sweep that took place back in August. Upon the release of a WBUR poll that the MassINC Polling Group conducted, Steve takes us through the most notable results. The poll surveyed registered Massachusetts voters on a variety of topics, and some of the biggest takeaways were Commonwealth citizens mirroring the country in terms of their feelings on impeachment. Elizabeth Warren has a significant lead over her competitors in the presidential primary among Bay State voters, but her proposal for Medicare for All is less popular among Democratic voters in the state than a plan that would include a public option. Also sounding off on the topic of health care is our guest Colin Young, reporter for the State House News Service. Colin covered Governor Charlie Baker's proposed bill that would require providers to increase spending on addiction services, behavioral health, primary care, and geriatric services, and he joins the Horse Race hosts to break down what the new bill would mean for health care consumers.

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected