Mass. Democrats weigh second Trump term as attorney general identifies ‘prospective threats’

The top prosecutor in Massachusetts said her office spent time ahead of Tuesday’s election to “identify prospective threats” that could surface during President-elect Donald Trump’s second term in the White House.

Attorney General Andrea Campbell’s pledge to protect “our fundamental rights and freedoms” from any apparent infringement came as Massachusetts Democrats started to grapple Wednesday with what the next four years could look like after Trump beat Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election.

Campbell, the first Black woman elected to the office, said attorneys have been “hard at work for some time” planning for Trump’s possible return, including on topics like the rule of law, the integrity of democratic institutions, access to reproductive healthcare, and the environment.

“We are an office that always strives to work in partnership and to be collaborative but where someone violates the law, or the spirit of it, or violates the protections of our residents or the values we hold near and dear, we will fight for those, and we will do it, of course, in collaboration with AGs all across this country,” the Mattapan Democrat told reporters.

Campbell would not be the first attorney general in Massachusetts to file legal challenges against Trump. Then-Attorney General Maura Healey filed around 100 different lawsuits against Trump during his first stint at the White House.

At her own event earlier in the day, Healey walked a fine line between promising to be a governor “for everyone” but also vowing to make sure Massachusetts holds the line on public education, reproductive health care, and climate change, among other things.

“I think I’ve spoken quite a bit about Donald Trump and my feelings about him. We have to see whether he makes good on what he promised and ran on in terms of Project 2025, or other things,” Healey said, referring to a conservative policy platform that Trump has distanced himself from.

Top Democrats on Beacon Hill also said that they have a “heightened role” under another Trump administration.

House Speaker Ron Mariano urged the Democratic Party to view Tuesday’s election as a wake-up call and an opportunity to “renew our focus on the issues that drove voters across the country towards the Republican Party this year.”

He said lawmakers’ role in deciding policies on a range of issues “will now be of heightened importance due to yesterday’s incredibly disappointing election results and the potential for decreased federal support.”

Senate President Karen Spilka suggested Trump’s first term in office was an “anti-democratic presidency” and legislators responded by “doubling down” on a range of issues like reproductive health, voter protections, and climate change.

“We have been a leader and a model for our nation in so many ways throughout our long history. Now, more than ever, we must continue to be a light of democracy and justice for all,” she said in a statement.