(Image via umassd.edu)

Staff Writer: Kyle Dietzsch

Email: kdietzsch@umassd.edu

Fall 2026 is now in full swing, which means midterms are coming, both in classrooms and at the ballot boxes. The coming elections are being touted as some of the most consequential in U.S. history. Although Massachusetts has historically been a blue state, neither Democrats nor Republicans are shying away from the fight in the Commonwealth.

Two key contests this election are the election for Governor of Massachusetts, and the race for one of two Senate seats. In both cases, Democratic incumbents are facing competition from rising Republican opponents. This article will break down both of these contests, and examine what the potential outcomes could mean for UMass Dartmouth– and the future of higher education in Massachusetts.

First up, the Senate race: Both incumbent Ed Markey, a Democrat who has held his seat since 2013, and his challenger, Republican attorney John Deaton, have made student loan policy a focus of their campaigns.

Markey’s campaign highlights his record of pushing to keep student loan interest rates down. In 2025, he joined Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders in pushing a bill that would protect older and disabled people who had defaulted on student loan debt from losing their Social Security benefits.

A native of Malden, MA, and an alumnus of Boston College, Markey’s website also points out his ties to education in Massachusetts. The site reads: “Senator Markey has continuously opposed cuts to federal research grants that make projects at these institutions possible.”

Deaton has also vowed to alleviate the pressure of student loan debts, though he advocates methods that are tougher on colleges and universities than Markey. While Markey favors student loan forgiveness, Deaton believes that schools should be made accountable for when their graduates default on their debt.

The Republican wants institutions to help pay for defaulted student loan debt. This policy would, according to his campaign, create “a direct incentive to invest in job placement, career counseling, and academic programs that actually lead to employment, rather than simply collecting tuition and walking away from the outcome.”

While recent polls show Markey with a comfortable 23-percentage-point lead over Deaton, the race for Governor seems to be getting tighter. The incumbent, Democrat Maura Healey, is leading her Republican challenger Mike Minogue by 16 points. This past summer, Healey’s lead was in the mid-20s, suggesting that the current Governor is losing ground.

Since taking office in 2023, Healey has made Massachusetts’ status as a leader in education a point of pride. In 2024, the state launched the MassEducate program, which made community college education tuition-free for all residents. Earlier in 2026, her administration introduced a pilot program that could shorten some bachelor’s degree programs to three years.

In a recent debate, Minogue, a political newcomer who has risen to prominence as a medical device entrepreneur, called out Healey on numerous education-related issues. Among them was the Governor’s hesitation to enroll Massachusetts in the Federal Scholarship Tax Credit program. This system grants taxpayers a dollar-for-dollar tax credit on donations made to non-profit scholarship-granting organizations. If elected, Minogue says he’d immediately opt in, a measure which many argue could save money for taxpayers and lower the cost of higher education.

Minogue is also a close political ally of President Donald Trump, having previously donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Trump-Vance Inauguration Committee. Minogue has hinted, though never explicitly stated, that he supports the President’s policy of banning transgender athletes from women’s sports.

“As a father of five kids and two athletic girls, I will provide girls fair and safe sports and a right to privacy,” the Republican candidate has said.

Overall, the numbers seem to indicate that Massachusetts will stay blue, though perhaps not as comfortably as before. But whichever side you support, participation in the upcoming election is key to shaping the future of college education in our state. To learn more about the coming elections or to get registered to vote, visit the UMassD Votes webpage.

Given that the Commonwealth is home to several of the nation’s top ranked colleges and universities, it’s no surprise that higher education policy is so frequently debated here. Whatever the outcome of the 2026 elections, it’s clear that this will remain a priority for many years to come.