Former state representative Geoff Diehl (R-Whitman) may run for governor of Massachusetts in 2022, incumbent Republican governor Charlie Baker may seek a third term, but what about lieutenant governor Karyn Polito?
Could she make a run for the post?
Back in 2018, former Massachusetts Republican Party chairman Kristen Hughes told WCVB that Polito would be her top choice to run for governor if Baker chose not to seek a third term. Recent domain name system registrations suggest that Polito has interest in the post — or that a domain squatter made an investment the person hopes pays off one day.
Over the past few days, someone in Boston registered four web sites that have some variation of Polito’s name and governor in them, as California Target Book revealed. They include: governorkarynpolito.com, governorpolito.com, karynpolito4governor.com, and karynpolitoforgovernor.com.
As of Sunday afternoon, the sites had no content on them, but they were only registered within the past couple of days.
All of them went up shortly after Politico’s Stephanie Murray tweeted out that Diehl had been considering running for governor. New Boston Post has confirmed the report.
The GoDaddy domain registration database shows that someone registered all four web sites including Polito’s name in just over a one-minute timespan. Someone registered the sites karynpolito4governor.com, and karynpolitoforgovernor.com on Friday, December 11 at 5:08 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. At 5:09 p.m., governorkarynpolito.com and governorpolito.com went up as well.
It does not say who registered the web sites. However, it shows that the person who did was in the 02130 zip code — which is in the Jamaica Plain neighborhood of Boston.
Polito has a web site already: karynpolito.com. It has been registered since 2000, the year of her first run for a seat in the Massachusetts House of Representatives. She ran uncontested in the Eleventh Worcester District and won the election.
It’s unclear if Baker will run for a third term. When asked about it in February, he told reporters that it was “definitely not a no.”
Baker is still fund raising. He had $484,786.94 cash on hand as of the end of November. Meanwhile, Polito had $1,780,172.50 cash on hand at the end of November. She raised $46,890 in that month alone compared to Baker’s $885 in that same span.
If Baker runs again and wins and serves a full term, he would tie Michael Dukakis as the longest-serving governor in the state’s history. However, unlike Dukakis, who lost to Ed King in the Democratic primary in 1978, Baker could do it in three consecutive terms.
So far, only three people have established exploratory committees to run for governor with the Massachusetts Office of Campaign and Political Finance.
One is Harvard professor and Democrat Danielle Allen. Another is Scott Khourie, a Quincy resident and Democrat. A third is Carlos Perez, a Springfield resident and Libertarian.
