Massachusetts governor hopefuls Healey, Diehl spar in debate

BOSTON (AP) — Democratic Attorney General Maura Healey and pro-Trump Republican Geoff Diehl clashed on everything from energy and education to abortion and whether those in the country illegally should have access to drivers license in Massachusetts during their first debate for governor Wednesday.

Both candidates are working to shore up their party’s base while reaching out to independent voters, who make up the bulk of the electorate in Massachusetts ahead of the Nov. 8 election.

One point of contention centered on the future of education in Massachusetts.

Diehl said parents are upset about some public school curriculum and want more school choice options. Diehl said his daughter was required to watch a video and acknowledge she has the advantage on the playing field and in the classrrom because she is white.

“I want to give parents that choice to be able to send their children where they think they should go and not get indoctrinated in our schools,” he said.

Healey said every child "regardless of their race, their ethnicity, their zip code should have access to a high quality education.”

She said Diehl would limit student access to books.

“He wants to ban books. He wants to require that any time a child wants to go into a public library they have to get a permission slip,” she said. "That’s not the direction we need to go."

On the push for renewable energy, Healey said she would have signed the same legislation Republican Gov. Charlie Baker signed earlier this year intended to bring the state closer to its goal of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

“It makes sense. It's where we are. It's where we are going,” she said. “As governor I'm going to continue to work on efforts to diversify our portfolio, to rein in costs, to modernize the grid.”

Diehl said...