Mike Minogue has never held or run for public office. On November 3 he is the Republican nominee for governor of Massachusetts against an incumbent who has not lost an election, in a state that has not sent a Republican to the corner office since Charlie Baker left it in January 2023. He won his primary by 51 points. Every public poll has him losing the general by more than 20.
This page is a record of who he is, what he has said he would do, and where the race stands. It takes no position on the election.
Who he is
Michael Roger Minogue lives in Hamilton. He graduated from West Point in 1989, served as an infantry officer in Operation Desert Storm, earned Ranger qualification and a Bronze Star, and left the Army for business. From 2004 to 2023 he was chairman, president and chief executive of Abiomed, the Danvers medical device company whose Impella heart pumps are the smallest in the world and have been used in the United States since 2008. Johnson & Johnson bought Abiomed for approximately $16.6 billion, the largest medical technology transaction of 2022, at $380 a share, closing on December 22, 2022. Minogue stayed through the transition and then left.
He founded MedTechVets, a nonprofit that places veterans in medical technology careers. He is married to Renee and has five children.
Before this race his political activity was as a donor. The Democratic Governors Association describes him as a “MAGA mega donor” who gave hundreds of thousands of dollars in support of President Trump. He has not disputed the giving. His campaign message is that he is a “new kind of governor, one with the faith, the heart, and the grit to serve,” that “working people have been left behind,” and that the state’s “current one-party system isn’t working.”
How he became the nominee
Minogue entered the race as a self-funder and consolidated the party quickly. At the Republican convention in Worcester in April 2026 he took 70.38 percent of roughly 1,800 delegates, winning the party’s endorsement. Brian Shortsleeve, the former MBTA general manager and a Marine veteran, cleared the 15 percent ballot threshold by half a point. Mike Kennealy, Baker’s housing and economic development secretary, fell just short and was eliminated.
Minogue declined to debate Shortsleeve before the primary. On September 1 he won it with 192,287 votes to 61,268, 75.84 percent to 24.16, a margin of 131,019 votes and the largest in any contested statewide race on the ballot. Shortsleeve had the Boston Globe’s endorsement and Senator Tom Cotton’s backing. It did not matter. We reported the results in our primary night coverage, and the primary itself in our preview of the Republican race. His running mate for lieutenant governor is Shawn Oliver.
Reported figures during the primary put his self-funding at roughly $14.5 million. We were unable to confirm the total in state filings and cite it as reported.
What he says he would do
On September 10, at Shea Concrete in Amesbury, Minogue laid out a governing blueprint he calls “AAOK”: accountability, affordability, opportunity, and keeping communities safe. The specific proposals reported from that event and from his earlier statements:
- A “Massachusetts Spending Dashboard” for the fiscal 2027 budget and an audit of the Legislature and the budget.
- Lease or sell state land, excluding conservation land, and return tax dollars to residents. His summary: “Overspending, overtaxing and overregulating. We need to fix that.”
- End enforcement of the MBTA Communities Act, and let cities and towns keep more tax revenue if they speed up single-family home permitting.
- Expand charter, technical and vocational schools statewide, and expand parental school choice.
- “Invest in energy to lower our bills, help our hospitals, and let us have a manufacturing boom.”
- Protect qualified immunity for police, end cashless bail, and mandate jail time for violence against police officers.
- Help deport “illegal immigrants” and reform safety-net benefits for migrants arriving in the state.
- Use artificial intelligence to reduce traffic congestion.
- Let residents who move out of Massachusetts keep donating to state charities without taxation.
Two of those items have legal texture worth noting. Massachusetts does not have “cashless bail” as a policy; the phrase describes the practice, after the SJC’s 2017 decision in Brangan, of setting bail a defendant can actually pay, and a governor cannot change it by executive action. And the MBTA Communities Act is a statute the SJC upheld in January 2025; a governor can direct the executive agencies that enforce it, but cannot repeal it without the Legislature.
Where the race stands
Governor Maura Healey was unopposed in the Democratic primary. Her running mate is Lieutenant Governor Kim Driscoll.
The public polling is not close. A University of New Hampshire survey in late August had Healey at 54 percent, Minogue at 30, and 14 percent undecided. UMass Amherst’s August poll had it 53 to 33. Both candidates have agreed to general election debates; no dates had been announced as of this update.
The two camps clashed on the same day Minogue rolled out his blueprint. Healey collected endorsements from the Boston Police Patrolmen’s Association, the State Police Association of Massachusetts and the Massachusetts Coalition of Police, telling the room, “Most of the people in this room, I have worked with and stood by and stood with, in good times and bad.” Minogue answered that he had the Massachusetts Police Association’s support and that “the police, when you talk to them, they’re going to vote for me. This is more party politics.” Healey’s framing of the race is national: “Restore health care funding, get ICE out of here, quit messing around and tanking our economy.” Minogue’s is local: the state is overtaxed, overregulated, and run by one party.
Dates
- October 17 through October 30. In-person early voting, hours set by each city and town.
- October 24. Voter registration deadline.
- November 3. Election day. Polls open 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. in most communities.
The same ballot carries nine statewide questions, the most since 1994, which we cover in our guide to the 2026 ballot questions.
Who is Mike Minogue?
The Republican nominee for governor of Massachusetts in 2026. A West Point graduate and Desert Storm veteran, he ran Abiomed, the Danvers heart pump maker, from 2004 until its $16.6 billion sale to Johnson & Johnson in 2022. He lives in Hamilton and has never held office.
Who is he running against?
Governor Maura Healey, the Democratic incumbent, who was unopposed in her primary. Her running mate is Lieutenant Governor Kim Driscoll; Minogue’s is Shawn Oliver.
What do the polls say?
Late-August polls from UNH and UMass Amherst had Healey ahead by 24 and 20 points respectively, with about one in seven voters undecided.
What are his main proposals?
A state spending dashboard and audit of the Legislature, tax reductions, selling or leasing non-conservation state land, ending enforcement of the MBTA Communities Act, expanding charter and vocational schools, ending cashless bail, and deporting undocumented immigrants.
Did he win the primary?
Yes, with 75.84 percent against Brian Shortsleeve on September 1, 2026, a margin of more than 131,000 votes.
When is the election?
Tuesday, November 3, 2026. Registration closes October 24 and early voting runs October 17 through 30.
Biography from public reporting by GBH, Fox News and the campaign; Abiomed transaction figures from Johnson & Johnson’s announcements. Primary results from the Associated Press count as reported September 2, 2026, not yet certified. September 10 statements as reported by NBC Boston and GBH. Polling from the University of New Hampshire Survey Center and the UMass Amherst Poll, August 2026. This page will be updated through the election. General information, not legal advice, and no endorsement of any candidate.