The Horse Race

6/23/2022--This week on The Horse Race, Steve and Lisa share their opinions on a *critical* Massachusetts food service matchup -- Dunkin' Donuts and Market Basket. If the two were on the ballot, which is securing your vote? Later, Rich Parr, Research Director at The MassINC Polling Group shares details on the newest MPG transportation poll. The statewide survey asked residents whether they support...

6/16/2022--This week, Jenn and Lisa unpack a major development on the ballot question front -- the Supreme Judicial Court this week threw out a ballot question that would classify ride-share drivers as independent contractors. Jenn explains the court's reasoning behind the decision, and Lisa shares what it all means for the future of rides-hare drivers' fight to unionize. Tori Bedford, reporter at...

6/9/22- This week, Jenn fills us in on this weekend’s Dot Day and Dorchfest festivities while eating leftover cake. Steve counters an argument made in a recent episode of The New York Times’ podcast The Daily, that “polling on gun control gets it wrong,” explaining the key difference between issues polling and ballot question polling, and why, as he’s seen in ballot question campaigns throughout M...

6/2/2022--This week, Jenn is gearing up for an exciting weekend Dorchester Day activities, and wants to see you all there. Meanwhile Lisa is keeping an eye on all the intraparty drama happening in the leadup to the 2022 MassDems Convention this weekend. Steve, Jenn, and Lisa discuss the upcoming convention as well as the recent MassGOP convention, and what we can possibly expect come the September...

5/25/22-- This week on The Horse Race, Steve, Jennifer, and Lisa begin on the somber note brought about by yet another shooting tragedy, this time in Uvalde Texas, where 19 children and 2 teachers were killed at Robb Elementary School. This comes soon after 11 people were shot and killed in a racist attack at a Buffalo supermarket. Congressional delegates from Massachusetts expressed sadness and c...

5/19/2022-- This week, Jenn and Lisa begin discuss what’s happening in the race for State Auditor – current Auditor Suzanne Bump endorsed candidate Chris Dempsey as her successor, calling him a “true progressive.” She had previously refuted some of the claims made by Diana DiZoglio, another candidate, about the purview of the auditor’s office. Our first guest this week is Caroline Vanasse, Project...

5/5/2022-- Today on The Horse Race, Steve and Lisa begin the episode by running through the newest fundraising numbers of the candidates running for statewide office. Plus, Lisa breaks down the results of the special election for the District 1 Boston City Council seat. The MassINC Polling Group is out with new data on how parents feel about their children's academics and wellbeing in school. Comp...

4/28/22--This week, Steve and Lisa discuss the state of COVID rates in Massachusetts, and what we might be missing when we talk about numbers of positive cases. New data from The MassINC Polling Group shows there are disparities between the households that use at-home tests to test for COVID and those that get tested at a testing site. That means we may be undercounting cases in specific places an...

4/21/22-- Today, The Horse Race is breaking down two state-focused polls out this week. The first is a poll conducted by the UMass Lowell Center for Public Opinion, which asked likely Democratic primary voters about their choices in the 2022 races for governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, and state auditor. The poll shows gubernatorial candidate Maura Healey with a strong lead over oppo...

4/14/2022-- The Masachusetts House of Representatives released their FY 2023 budget proposal this week, and friends of the pod as well as State House News Service reporters Katie Lannan and Chris Lisinski are here to break down the line items as well as the differences in budget priorities between Governor Baker and the House and Senate. Chris and Katie also dive into the news of a union in the wo...

4/7/2022--This week on The Horse Race, we bring you another of the Internet's Finest: a list from anytimeestimate.com ranking Boston as the fourth-best "pizza city" in the U.S. In case you were wondering, it ranks above both New York City and Chicago. Steve and Jenn dissect the list's confusing criteria for assembling such a list. Please do let us know your thoughts on this -- does Boston deserve...

3/31/22--It shouldn't be too difficult to sit back, relax and enjoy this week's episode of The Horse Race because, according to a WalletHub study (https://wallethub.com/edu/most-stressful-states/32218), the state of Massachusetts ranks among the least stressed states in the nation. Jennifer, Lisa, and Steve have a lot to say about the accuracy of this study. Later, in light of Governor Charlie Bak...

3/24/2022--This week on The Horse Race, a new development in the Republican primary race for governor. Candidate Geoff Diehl announced his running mate, Leah Cole Allen. Allen served briefly as a state representative in YEAR before becoming a nurse. "She keeps Diehl's ticket firmly in conservative territory," Lisa explains. Allen is anti-abortion, anti-mask and vaccine mandates, isn't vaccinated h...

3/17/2022-- Happy St. Patrick's Day from all of us at The Horse Race! Steve and Jennifer discuss the return of the in-person St. Patrick's Day breakfast, happening this Sunday. It's an almost annual tradition of Massachusetts politicians gathering and making jokes at one another's expense for what Jennifer describes as "basically a big Irish roast." Plus, big news coming out of the U.S. Senate-- a...

3/10/11-- This week, while certain industries are seeing patrons come back in droves amid the bottoming out of COVID cases -- arts and culture venues, restaurants, gyms -- one space that has yet to see such an influx are corporate office. Steve wrote about the risk this phenomenon poses to downtowns like Boston in CommonWealth. And later, it's caucus season in Massachusetts. Yawu Miller, reporter...

3/3/2022--This week on The Horse Race, Jennifer, Steve, and Lisa discuss the growing field of candidates in two major statewide races: attorney general and lieutenant governor. Republican Jay McMahon, who’s run for political office in Massachusetts before, stepped into the race for state attorney general. Anthony Amore, the 2018 secretary of state candidate is now running for state auditor. And fo...

2/24/2022--This week, the hosts are off for February school vacation. Please enjoy the 2022 edition of Horse Race outtakes, and we'll be back to our regularly scheduled programming next week.

2/17/2022--Today on The Horse Race, we look ahead to next week’s reopening of the State House. After more than 700 days of closure due to COVID, doors open on Tuesday, and legislators will return to their offices. In this week’s installment of State House Roundup, friends of the pod Katie Lannan and Chris Lisinski of State House News Service break down the ramifications of the in-person return and...

2/10/2022-- This week on The Horse Race, Lisa and Jenn discuss this week’s announcement out of the Governor’s office that the mask mandate for schools will end Feb. 28 and the reactions from the candidates running for Governor which, unsurprisingly, follow party lines. In the first of a series of segments interviewing State Auditor candidates, Jenn, Steve, and Lisa speak with Chris Dempsey, who sp...

2/3/2022--- This week on the horse race, Jenn, Steve, and Lisa discuss their brushes with the 24- hour record-breaking blizzard that hit the northeast this past weekend. Shifting to the many races of 2022, Boston City Councilor Andrea Campbell announced her campaign for Attorney General. Lisa spoke with Campbell about how policing reform fits in to the Attorney General’s office. Meanwhile, in the...

1/27/2022--This week brings a handful of new campaign announcements. Among them, Secretary of the Commonwealth Bill Galvin who confirmed he is seeking his eighth term in office, State Treasurer Deb Goldberg who is running for re-election, labor attorney Shannon Liss-Riordan who announced her bid for Attorney General, and Chris Doughty, a moderate Republican businessman from Wrentham and new entran...

1/20/2022--This week on The Horse Race, two big campaign announcements hit the news. First, it's the one we've been waiting on for months. Attorney General Maura Healey is running for Governor. She enters the race after much anticipation and speculation with a rate of name recognition and funding that dwarfs that of her competitors. Tanisha Sullivan, President of the Boston NAACP, announced her ca...

1/13/22--Today on The Horse Race, Jenn and Lisa discuss the biggest headlines of the week so far -- the continued issues around in-person schooling during a surge in COVID-19 cases, the newest entrant in the race for Lieutenant Governor (Salem Mayor Kim Driscoll), and the Boston's self-imposed deadline to clear tents from the Mass & Cass area wherein 140-plus people currently reside. Executive Dir...

1/6/2022-- After ringing in the first Horse Race episode 2022, Steve, Jenn, and Lisa discuss poll results just out from The MassINC Polling Group. The statewide poll on Massachusetts residents found just around a quarter of them feel as though the situation around the COVID-19 pandemic in Massachusetts is better than it was this time last year. The poll also found that unvaccinated people feel the...

12/23/21--On the last episode of 2021, Steve and Lisa discuss their holiday plans that have largely been rearranged thanks to the brutal arrival of the Omicron variant. It's a reality confronting people across Massachusetts, and as folks plan to safely convene with friends and family, the lack of available COVID testing is making that near impossible. With case numbers rising across the country an...