Salem Mayor Backs Healey For Governor Despite No Public Nod In Return

SALEM, MA — Salem Mayor Kim Driscoll is going all in on Attorney General Maura Healey's bid for governor despite no public promise of return support for Driscoll's own campaign for lieutenant governor.

"I am with her 100 percent and would be honored to serve with her as lieutenant governor," Driscoll said in a video message on Thursday.

While Healey appears to have a clear path to the Democratic nomination for governor following the withdrawal of State Sen. Sonia Chang-Diaz from the campaign last month — Chang-Diaz's name will still be on the Sept. 6 primary ballot after receiving the requisite 15 support at the Democratic State Convention in Worcester this spring — Driscoll is locked in a three-way battle for the lieutenant governor's seat.

While Driscoll gained majority support from Democratic convention delegates compared to the other candidates, State Sen. Eric Lesser (D-Longmeadow) has been a strong fundraiser with powerful union support and stances that could appeal to the moderate wing of the state party voters outside of the Greater Boston progressive stronghold.

State Sen. Tami Gouveia (D-Acton) is the third candidate on the party's primary ballot.

While the Republican ballot is made up of a pair of ticket alliances between the Donald Trump-backed Geoff Diehl and former Peabody State Rep. Lisa (Cole) Allen, and the more moderate tandem of Chris Doughty and Kate Campanale, Healey has been mum on which — if any — of the Democratic lieutenant governor candidates she would like to share the stage with the next four years.

That did not stop Driscoll, however, from hitching her wagon to the perceived general election frontrunner on Thursday.

"We both took on an old boys network and we won," Driscoll said in comparing her race to become Salem's first woman mayor to Healey's climb to AG, "because we worked hard for it, never slowed down and never gave up.

"While the media may think that the governor's race is over, you and I know that the Republican Party — the party of Trump — is not going to roll over."

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)