Massachusetts takes national spotlight at DNC ​​| John L. Micek

When Democrats nationally think of the Bay State, they tend to view it as a reliable cash machine that funds their electoral ambitions.

Vice presidential candidate Tim Walz raked in the money at a fundraiser in Boston that raised $25,000 per person, days before Democrats met in Chicago last week for their national convention.

The same goes for presidential candidate Kamala Harris, who swept the stage at fundraisers in Cape Town and the Berkshires last month, beginning her remarkable rise to the top of the ballot box.

But last week, prominent Massachusetts politicians secured prime speaking spots in Chicago, fueling speculation about their national ambitions — while reminding the rest of the country that American democracy originated in New England.

The appearances of Governor Maura Healey, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (Democrat, Massachusetts), U.S. Representative Katherine Clark (Democrat, 5th District) and Boston Mayor Michelle Wu merged the personal and the political.

And at least one moment caused some real laughs.

Here’s what happened in and outside the Congress Hall last week.

Wu, who is expecting her third child in January, spoke about her pregnancy in personal terms and placed it in the context of the ongoing debate about reproductive rights and in vitro fertilization.

“It can be quite heartbreaking at times,” Wu said last week during an event at a party convention in Chicago, according to The Boston Globe.

She added that she had turned to “assisted reproductive technology,” the very health care (treatment) that some want to ban across the country, the newspaper reported.

Clark, the second-highest-ranking Democrat in the House, used her appearance on the convention stage on Thursday to point to affordable child care, Politico reported.

Clark, who is also considered the favorite to win the House majority if Democrats recapture the House in November, spoke about her struggles to find affordable care for her children when they were younger.

She compared it unfavorably with Project 2025, which, among other things, aims to end funding for Head Start.

“Kamala and Tim know that when everyone can find affordable child care, our children and our communities will thrive,” Clark said during a speech on the congressional stage, the online news outlet reported. “Our middle class will grow. So let’s put child care at the top of the agenda.”

And even though she was there to promote Harris’s presidential candidacy, Warren dominated the crowd at the United Center for just over six minutes on Thursday night.

The Cambridge Democrat received a standing ovation that lasted 1 minute and 13 seconds, almost rivaling the love the crowd had shown him the night before, MassLive previously reported.

As she tried to calm the cheering crowd, Warren at times seemed to be fighting back tears.

In her five-minute speech, Warren addressed one of the major themes of the convention: the sharp contrasts between Harris and former Republican President Donald Trump.

“You know what else I love about Kamala? She gets it,” Warren said. “We need to make life more affordable for working people.”

“Donald Trump, the felon, has no plan to reduce costs for families. He doesn’t know how – and frankly, he doesn’t care,” she continued.

Warren is running for re-election this year and will face one of three Republican candidates emerging from the Sept. 3 primary.

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Two of those candidates – John Deaton of Swansea and Ian Cain of Quincy – criticized Warren’s speech.

Warren has “once again demonstrated that her priorities remain to strengthen her national standing and demonstrate blind party loyalty – not those of the people of Massachusetts,” Deaton said in a statement.

In a post to X, Cain said: “Elizabeth Warren wants us to believe that she can solve all the problems she and Kamala Harris have created. This speech makes it clear that we need new blood and new thinking in Washington.”

Warren’s re-election campaign left nothing to chance and sent out an email asking for fundraising shortly after the Democrat left the stage on Thursday evening.

Healey, who previously served as attorney general for two terms, emphasized Harris’ credibility as a prosecutor, a position she held as California’s highest elected attorney from 2011 to 2017.

In the race for the presidential nomination, “the choice is between a candidate who is concerned with his own interests and Kamala Harris, who stands up for the people,” Healey said on Thursday evening during prime time.

The Democrat from Arlington is less well-known nationally than some of her fellow governors from Democratic states, such as Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan or Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania. Nevertheless, she was very visible during the party’s convention week.

On Wednesday, for example, Healey was one of several governors who participated in a panel discussion moderated by “Veep” star Julia Louis-Dreyfus.

On Wednesday, Bay State comedian Mindy Kaling delivered a humorous salute to her home state from the convention stage.

“I love you, Massachusetts. Everyone always hates us, but they just don’t get it! Go Sox! Go Jayson Tatum! Ben Affleck, hang in there!” Kaling joked.

Don’t call him janitor

Because Healey and other Massachusetts state delegates were in Chicago for the DNC, Secretary of State William L. Galvin briefly served as acting governor of Massachusetts in their absence (thanks, state constitution!).

He made optimal use of his time, to say the least.

During a stop in Springfield on Wednesday, Galvin, the state’s top election official, announced the possibility of early in-person voting in a speech on the steps of Springfield City Hall, The Republican newspaper reported.

And on Thursday, Galvin signed a bill declaring a section of State Route 41 in West Stockbridge the “Gene Dellea Highway,” according to a statement from the governor’s office.

Turned up to 11

Much of the politics on Tuesday was about DJ Cassidy and the playlist he put together for the DNC’s (very) ceremonial vote by state. Here’s the playlist.

Your Sunday reading

Veteran political reporter Jonathan Chait, writing for NYMag’s Intelligencer, claims Kamala Harris’ acceptance speech on Thursday night was “the best… I’ve ever seen.”

Although he “did not hesitate to criticize the substantive merits or political wisdom of Harris’ decisions,” Chait nevertheless admitted that he “could not find anything to criticize in this speech.”

The vice president, who is now the first woman of color to lead a major party, “told in her biography her story as an ambitious child of strict immigrant parents growing up in a working-class neighborhood,” Chait wrote.

“She explained that she was inspired to become a prosecutor because of her desire to protect others, which was sparked when a friend confided in her that she was being sexually abused at home,” Chait continued.

You can read the whole article here (Conditional Buyer: There is a paywall).