The Horse Race

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, Steve, and Lisa rehash the major takeaways from Tuesday night's second Boston mayoral debate between Michelle Wu and Annissa Essaibi-George, noting that this was the first significant moment in which frontrunner Wu was in the hot seat--faced with tough questions from both moderators and Essaibi-George.

Later, Deanna Moran of the Conservation Law foundation describes what is in store for Boston and the rest of Massachusetts as the effects of climate change begin to manifest. Sooner than we are perhaps prepared for, we will be faced with weather events that threaten our critical infrastructure. Moran says, there's so much more the state needs to do to become more climate resilient.

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. Vargas explains the redistricting process, what the goals for redistricting are, and the challenges that the redistricting committee has faced so far.

The Texas abortion law instated in early September is one of the strictest measures in the nation, banning abortion at six weeks -- when many women don't even yet know they are pregnant. Rebecca Hart Holder, executive director at NARAL Pro-Choice Massachusetts explains what it means that this law made it on the books, and what the implications are for the future of Roe v. Wade.

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. Lizzi Weyant is the Director of Government Affairs at the Metropolitan Area Planning Council, and Marie-Frances Rivera is the President of the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center.

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 representative of Massachusetts' 16th Essex district, and a current resident of Lawrence and follower of the race there; and Greta Jochem is a reporter at the Berkshire Eagle, who's been keeping a close eye on the action in North Adams.

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.

This week, Steve, Jenn, and Lisa unpack the results of the Boston mayoral preliminary election. They discuss the reasons behind the painstaking wait for the tallies to come in, what voter turnout looked like this year compared to elections past, and what the shakeout of this historic preliminary election says about Boston.

Intro and outro music credit: Charlie Koczela and Sound of Picture.

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 what legislating was like back in those days.

Now, as we look forward to a slightly more open, but still worrisome future, we have to ask, how will our leaders learn from what came before? What is informing their decisions? What can we expect to change, and stay the same?

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Mass Reboot is a production of The MassINC Polling Group, in association with CommonWealth Magazine. Our music is from Blue Dot Sessions.

This week’s episode is sponsored by Rasky Partners. They’re a long-time supporter of ours and a nationally recognized government affairs and communication firm. For over 30 years the team at Rasky has worked with all types of organizations, large and small, helping each one reach their business objectives through advocacy and storytelling. Find out more about Rasky Partners at rasky.com.

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 experiences together during the pandemic, as well as the Boston Globe Love Letters columnist Meredith Goldstein about the patterns she saw emerge among people navigating love and dating before, during the height of the pandemic, and now.

Next week: Government.

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Mass Reboot is a production of The MassINC Polling Group, in association with CommonWealth Magazine. Our music is from Blue Dot Sessions. To help us make more episodes, donate at patreon.com/mass_reboot.

This week’s episode is sponsored by Rasky Partners. They’re a long-time supporter of ours and a nationally recognized government affairs and communication firm. For over 30 years the team at Rasky has worked with all types of organizations, large and small, helping each one reach their business objectives through advocacy and storytelling. Find out more about Rasky Partners at rasky.com.

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. Learning loss was certainly a symptom of the COVID school year, but the voices on today’s podcast emphasize that it should not be the sole focus as we look towards recovery--that addressing students’ grief; relationships; and physical, social, and emotional well-being takes precedence over reaching a certain benchmark in reading or math.

Takeru Nagayoshi of New Bedford High School, Tracy O’Connell Novick of the Worcester School Committee, Tanya Nixon-Sillberg of Little Uprisings, and Senate Chair of the Joint Committee on Education Jason Lewis reflect on the past year and a half of school plagued by COVID interruptions and provide insight on what the next academic year could and should provide for teachers, students, and their families.

Next week: Love.

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Mass Reboot is a production of The MassINC Polling Group, in association with CommonWealth Magazine. Our music is from Blue Dot Sessions. To help us make more episodes, donate at patreon.com/mass_reboot.

This week’s episode is sponsored in part by Rasky Partners. They’re a long-time supporter of ours and a nationally recognized government affairs and communication firm. For over 30 years the team at Rasky has worked with all types of organizations, large and small, helping each one reach their business objectives through advocacy and storytelling. Find out more about Rasky Partners at rasky.com.

Episode 3 is also sponsored by the Massachusetts Business Roundtable, an employer-driven member organization comprised of CEOs and Senior Executives from large employers. Through the Roundtable, business leaders engage with the public and private sectors to advance policies that support the state’s competitiveness and long-term economic prosperity.

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 COVID-19 pandemic. Suddenly, people lost that root--either they were laid off or lost wages. Or, they kept their jobs but took their work from the office to the home. Others still who remained in in-person jobs had to face the looming threat of COVID when they went to work.

When the distribution of vaccines began, many workers and their bosses looked forward to a hybrid work format that would offer the best of both worlds: the ability to collaborate in person with colleagues some days, but enjoy the comfort of working from home other days. Now, however, with COVID cases rising in all states, that future is up in the air. Yajaira Toribio of Dreams Nail Lounge, Segun Idowu of the Black Economic Council of Massachusetts, Maeghan Welford of the MITRE Corporation, JD Chesloff of the Massachusetts Business Roundtable discuss their perspectives on how our ideas of work changed during the pandemic, and what work looks like in the coming months and years.

Next week: Love.

Mass Reboot is a production of The MassINC Polling Group, in association with CommonWealth Magazine. Our music is from Blue Dot Sessions. To help us make more episodes, donate at patreon.com/mass_reboot.

This week’s episode is sponsored in part by Rasky Partners. They’re a long-time supporter of ours and a nationally recognized government affairs and communication firm. For over 30 years the team at Rasky has worked with all types of organizations, large and small, helping each one reach their business objectives through advocacy and storytelling. Find out more about Rasky Partners at rasky.com.