The Horse Race

12/16/21--Newsrooms across the country are pushing to unionize. And those in Massachusetts are no exception. Today on The Horse Race, Jenn sits down with three guests who can speak to newsroom union negotiations from experience. State Rep. Lindsay Sabadosa is one of the columnists taking part in the strike at the Daily Hampshire Gazette in support of the paper’s union. The columnists have told New...

12/9/21--Today on The Horse Race, a roundup on what's happening on Beacon Hill. Reporters Katie Lannan of State House News Service and Shira Schoenberg of CommonWealth stop by to break down what is inside the $4 billion ARPA spending bill headed for Charlie Baker's desk (and why it took so long to reach this point). Plus, Lisa provides the scoop on the down-ballot races heating up across the state...

12/1/21 --After two terms, Governor Charlie Baker has announced he will not be running for re-election in 2022. The statement led to a frenzy of reactions and speculations throughout the Massachusetts political scene, and many names were bandied about of who might throw their hat in the ring. Co-host Lisa Kashinsky has been on the ground watching it all unfold. She provides analysis on what Baker'...

11/18/21--This week, a solo Jenn speaks with MassINC Polling Group Research Director Maeve Duggan about the latest survey on Massachusetts parents of K-12 students. While parents are largely optimistic about the rest of the in-person school year and their children's success, inequitable access to resources remains. Plus, a deep dive in what is likely to be the most expensive ballot question of 202...

11/11/21-- This week, Steve and Lisa are back in the virtual bunker to celebrate a birthday, rejoice in vaccinations for children, and discuss the latest in the #mapoli scene. A new mental health bill unveiled by the state Senate would revolutionize treatment. Co-chair of the Joint Committee on Mental Health, Substance Use, and Recovery Sen. Julian Cyr stopped by to explain the mechanics, the goal...

11/4/21-- This week on The Horse Race, Steve, Jenn, and Lisa review the elections that took place all over the state. They break down all the highlights of the mayoral election, plus results of the at-large and city council elections and ballot questions. Later, Rich Parr, research director at The MassINC Polling Group joins in to talk about the notable elections that took place in cities througho...

10/28/21--Happy Halloween from The (Headless) Horse Race! This week, Jenn, Steve, and Lisa discuss the final Boston mayoral debate before the election, the makeup of the House of Representatives's spending plan for the states remaining American Rescue Plan Act funds, plus, of course, Halloween. Later, state Senator Sonia-Chang Diaz drops by to break down the racial equity scorecard used to assess...

10/21/21--This week, a poll from Public Policy Polling finds Governor Baker's approval ratings have dipped quite a bit among likely 2022 Republican primary voters. Lisa says this reinforces what anecdotal evidence has suggested for a while, that he's more popular among Democrats and Independents than those in his own party. In a hypothetical matchup with Geoff Diehl, Baker trails 50 to 29. Jenn, S...

10/13/21--This week, Steve shares findings from the latest poll on the Boston mayoral race. He spells out just how strong Michelle Wu's lead is so far over Annissa Essaibi-George, and how likely voters' priorities for the city differ based on who they plan to vote for. Later, Lisa and Steve are joined by state Rep. and member of the Special Joint Committee on Redistricting, Andy Vargas. Rep. Varga...

10/7/21--The MBTA is prone to some bad press, but things have been especially bleak in the past couple of weeks. Candidates in the gubernatorial and Boston mayoral races alike have pointed to the T as a problem area they vow to work on fixing. Some have clung to the idea of a free MBTA. But how exactly would that work? Today's guests walk us through what it would take to get such a project started...

9/30/21--This week on the podcast, Jenn and Lisa are joined by two longtime friends of the pod, Katie Lannan and Chris Lisinski of State House News Service. They explain all the headline bills being worked on, what's going on with the T after numerous disasters, and when the State House itself might be opening up for members and the public alike.

9/23/21--Eleven cities across Massachusetts held preliminary mayoral elections this week. On The Horse Race this week, we're joined by three guests, each of whom have in-depth knowledge on particular races throughout the state. Matt Szafranski, Editor-in-Chief of the Western Mass Politics and Insight blog has been covering the Holyoke race; Juana Matias is the COO of MassINC, a former state repres...

9/16/21--The Horse Race rides again! We are back in the saddle after being put out to pasture for a summer, producing Mass Reboot (listen right here in this feed if you haven't yet!). In our first episode back we are joined by brand-new co-host, Lisa Kashinsky! Lisa is the author of the Politico Massachusetts Playbook, formerly of The Boston Herald, and a decorated veteran of Horse Race guesthood....

8/19/21--On the finale episode of Mass Reboot, we examine the early days of the pandemic when elected officials' jobs quickly got even more complicated and important. State Senator Adam Hinds, State Representative and Boston Medical emergency room physician Jon Santiago, and State House News Service Reporter and president of the Massachusetts State House Press Association Katie Lannan discussed wh...

8/12/21--When the pandemic hit, just about every aspect of our lives changed. And that includes our relationships-- with family, friends, and partners. Whether you were single, dating, married, or divorced during the pandemic, chances are, dynamics changed at least slightly. Today, we hear from two sets up couples -- Honey Goodenough and Kenneth Dyer, and Eden Heller and Dan Hopkins -- about their...

8/5/21-- School administrators, teachers, parents, and students were all thrown for a loop when COVID shut down school buildings and demanded immediate innovation. Some schools, and some students, were better off than others. So much depended on available resources like technology, Internet, and childcare. Families that lacked any one of these struggled with remote school and hybrid school. Learni...

7/28/21--Each episode of Mass Reboot thus far has touched on one thing over and over again-- a particular, consuming aspect of our lives: work. Restaurant workers lost jobs due to the pandemic. So did artists. Work has, for the most part, dictated where we live, and how and where we travel day to day. If any one event had the ability to upend work as a grounding force in our lives, it was the COVI...

This week on Mass Reboot, the pandemic’s impacts fell heavily on restaurants. What did industry professionals do to survive the pandemic, and how are they bouncing back as eager diners return in droves as the state reopens? Find out on Episode 4, Food. Bob Luz, President and CEO of the Massachusetts Restaurant Association, describes what it was like reckoning with an entire sector of the economy s...

7/8/21--Welcome to the third episode of Mass Reboot, a summer podcast series about restarting Massachusetts after COVID-19 and what we lost along the way. Each week, we’ll dive into a sector of life in the commonwealth, exploring how the pandemic hit it, how it adapted, and how the people inside it envision a new normal. This week: Transportation. The pandemic swiftly brought the traffic crisis we...

6/30/21--Welcome to the second episode of Mass Reboot, a summer podcast series about restarting Massachusetts after COVID-19 and what we lost along the way. Each week, we’ll dive into a sector of life in the commonwealth, exploring how the pandemic hit it, how it adapted, and how the people inside it envision a new normal. This week: Home. In a state where housing costs were already sky-high, what...

6/23/21--Welcome to the first episode of Mass Reboot, a summer podcast series about restarting Massachusetts after COVID-19 and what we lost along the way. Each week, we’ll dive into a sector of life in the Commonwealth, exploring how the pandemic hit it, how it adapted, and how the people inside it envision a new normal. This week: Art. Hosts Libby Gormley, Steve Koczela, and Jennifer Smith of Th...

What happens when you reboot a whole state? Yesterday, after one year, three months, and five days, the COVID-19 state of emergency ended in Massachusetts. With millions vaccinated across the state and with summer on its way, the gears are beginning to turn again. Things that stopped are starting. Things that were closed are re-opening. That leaves a big question. What does a post-pandemic Massach...

5/12/21--Listeners, The Horse Race is taking a step back for a few weeks as we prepare to bring you a brand-new series this summer! So be sure to stay on the lookout for that, and in the meantime, we leave you with this last episode where Steve and Jenn are joined by the founding members of The Horse Race -- original cohost Lauren Dezenski and original producer Hannah Chanatry. The four reminisce...

5/5/21-- It's a bittersweet day here in the virtual bunker because it is Stephanie Murray's last appearance as co-host of The Horse Race! She is taking a new role at Politico as author of The Morning Score, a national weekly newsletter. Stick around to the end of the episode to hear how Stephanie has scene the political landscape change in her years on the #mapoli beat. But to begin, we're talking...

4/28/21--This week on The Horse Race, we bring you some bittersweet news. Our very own, extremely talented, reporter and co-host extraordinaire, Stephanie Murray, will be joining us for just one more episode of The Horse Race! She has been promoted to a national position for Politico, so keep an eye out for her as the new author of The Morning Score. In other big #mapoli news, Massachusetts is mak...