Your weekly look at politics, policy and elections in Massachusetts
12/23/20-- Happy Holidays, Horse Racers! We are guilty of claiming last week was our last episode of 2020, but as soon as we hit 'publish,' there was a major development in the Massachusetts legislature, so, we're back.
Speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives Bob DeLeo officially filed a disclosure Friday saying he's in talks with Northeastern University about a job there, meaning he could be leaving the post he's held for a record-breaking 12 years.
In looking ahead to who may fill DeLeo's position if he does in fact step down, many eyes are turning toward Quincy Rep. Ron Mariano, the house majority leader. Mariano says he has the votes to take DeLeo's seat if the moment comes. Stephanie says based on the conversations she's had with lawmakers and others on Beacon Hill, Mariano's takeover "feels like basically a done deal," and for many, it's felt like that for much longer than just the past two weeks.
Stephanie says a House of Representatives under Mariano's helm probably wouldn't function all too much differently than when DeLeo was in charge, given Mariano is DeLeo's top debuty. Rep. Russell Holmes of Mattapan by contrast has long taken issue with DeLeo's style of leadership, and announced his run for the speakership Friday.
--
To wrap up the year and to gear up for holiday sessions, Jenn and Stephanie take a look at the most popular holiday foods eaten across the U.S. (and judge them accordingly). The fare is all over the map (literally) - from tamales to lasagna to non-fish seafood.
With that, we leave you to enjoy your holiday season. We'll be bringing you much more Horse Race content come 2021!
This week on The Horse Race, a routine audit uncovers an accounting error that could cost the state billions. And we’ll take a closer look at the …
This week on The Horse Race, the push to bring back happy hour gets another shot on Beacon Hill and plans for the machine gun range on Cape Cod draw fire from residents and the …
This week on The Horse Race, we've got two new MPG polls to discuss and two new MPG polling experts to introduce to our listening audience! Research …
This week on The Horse Race, U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts Rachael Rollins calls it quits amid federal investigations into her conduct. We’re …
This week on The Horse Race, we’ve got chaos in the council chambers and a new 56 billion dollar spending plan at the State House. All that, plus …
This week on The Horse Race, we’re looking at elections. They weren’t races so much, but they were elections as strictly defined. We'll also sift through a new survey of Boston Public …
You can listen to episodes right here on the website, or if you prefer, in a podcast app. Listening in an app makes it easier to keep track of what you’ve already heard, listen without using your data plan and many other conveniences.