| | | | |  | | By Kelly Garrity | ABOUT LAST NIGHT — The room could’ve been mistaken for a comedy club. But instead of a two drink minimum, the mandate was voter registration. Dozens packed into Savvor, the restaurant-slash-lounge serving up Caribbean and Southern cuisine at the edge of Chinatown and Boston’s Leather District to watch last night’s debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump. To get into the watch party — hosted by Boston’s chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha (one of the elite Black fraternities and sororities known as the Divine Nine), along with the Boston branch of the NAACP, MassVOTE, and the Urban League of Eastern Massachusetts — attendees had to make it past MassVOTE Executive Director Cheryl Clyburn Crawford, who was set up at a table by the door, checking attendees voter registration status and signing up new voters as they arrived. The event wasn’t billed as partisan, though it garnered a pro-Harris crowd — no surprise in the Democratic-leaning city and given that Alpha Phi Alpha counts the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority, of which Harris is a member — as its sister organization. The crowd howled when Trump claimed without evidence that migrants arriving in the U.S. are eating people’s pets, prompting a swift fact-check from ABC’s moderators. And it laughed as Harris reacted to the former president’s allegation, when talking about abortion, that babies could be executed after birth. Planning for the event was underway soon after President Joe Biden stepped aside and Harris locked up support from the Democratic Party, Andreas Douglas, the chapter president, told Playbook. Eddie Firmin, the owner of Savvor — one of the oldest Black-owned businesses in the neighborhood — was quick to open his doors for it. Interest in the race has increased since Harris took over on the top of the ticket, organizers said (unsurprisingly, given the dramatic weeks leading up to the shift). But some onlookers were still skeptical Harris can win in November. But despite the jovial environment during the back-and-forth, not everyone was laughing by the end of the night. “If it weren’t so serious, I would be laughing,” Connie Forbes, one attendee who’s backing Harris in the race, told Playbook after the debate wrapped. Others praised Harris’ performance, but cast doubts on whether it was enough to sway many voters. Debates don’t often tip the scales too much one way or another (recent history excluded), and we likely won’t know what impact last night had on the candidates’ standing for a bit. But for now, each campaign has some new sound bites to run with as the election heads into the home stretch. GOOD WEDNESDAY MORNING, MASSACHUSETTS. Keep scrolling for more coverage from last night's showdown. TODAY — Gov. Maura Healey, Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll and Boston Mayor Michelle Wu join the annual Massachusetts 9/11 Commemoration at 8:15 a.m. at the State House and attend the Massachusetts 9/11 Fund’s annual wreath-laying ceremony at 1 p.m. at the Public Garden. Healey and Driscoll attend the annual Madeline Amy Sweeney award ceremony at 9:40 a.m. and the Massachusetts Fallen Firefighters Memorial Ceremony at 5 p.m. at the State House. Healey speaks at the Annual Tribute Service Project hosted by Project 351 and the Massachusetts Military Heroes Fund/Home Base at 11:30 a.m. on the Rose Kennedy Greenway, and Driscoll chairs a Governor’s Council meeting at noon. Wu speaks at a back to school event at 11 a.m. in Roxbury and at the Brain Aneurysm Foundation Symposium at 3:30 p.m. in Back Bay. Attorney General Andrea Campbell attends the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s annual legislative conference in Washington. She joins a panel on the role of state attorneys general at 1 p.m. State Auditor Diana DiZoglio speaks at a West Roxbury Business & Professional Association Meeting at 8 a.m. Have a tip, story, suggestion, birthday, anniversary, new job, or any other nugget for the Playbook? Drop me a line: kgarrity@politico.com. More on the debate: — “Harris won the debate — and it wasn’t close,” by POLITICO staff: “Kamala Harris showed up — and then some. The vice president’s performance against Donald Trump, in which she repeatedly baited him and knocked him off balance, was a far cry from President Joe Biden’s disastrous June debate. And it gave Democrats the role reversal they had hoped for after their switch at the top of the ticket.” — “Republicans blame moderators for Trump’s poor debate performance,” by Emily Ngo, Kimberly Leonard, Natalie Allison and Jessica Piper, POLITICO: “Republicans know Donald Trump didn’t win Tuesday’s debate. And they know who to blame: the media.” — “Taylor Swift endorses Kamala Harris for president,” by Anthony Adragna, POLITICO — “Fact-checking the 2024 Trump-Harris debate,” by Glen Kessler, The Washington Post
|  | ELECTION UPDATES | | — “Former U.S. Sen. Ayotte to face former Manchester Mayor Craig in New Hampshire governor’s race,” by Holly Ramer, The Associated Press: “New Hampshire will elect a female governor for the third time in November after former U.S. Sen. Kelly Ayotte and former Manchester Mayor Joyce Craig won their respective primaries Tuesday. The governor’s office is an open seat for the first time since 2016 thanks to Republican Gov. Chris Sununu’s decision against seeking a fifth two-year term.” — “Maggie Goodlander defeats Colin Van Ostern in 2nd District Democratic race,” by Kirk Enstrom, WMUR.
| | DATELINE BEACON HILL | | — “Mass. funding for victim services cut by feds,” by Christian M. Wade, The Eagle-Tribune: “Massachusetts is slated to get $17 million from the federal government for victim assistance programs, but the funding is much less than what the state normally gets and comes as a state funding plan is stalled in the Legislature. Under the Office for Victims of Crime latest round of disbursements, the state will be getting about $16 million in federal funding for victim assistance grants and another $1.4 million for victim compensation grants. The funding is part of a nearly $1 billion in grants distributed to all 50 states for fiscal year 2024.” — “Healey team finalizing closeout budget bill,” by Sam Doran, State House News Service (paywall): “he Healey administration is putting ‘final touches’ on its legislative plan to close the ledger on fiscal 2024, Administration and Finance Secretary Matthew Gorzkowicz said Tuesday, with plans to file the so-called closeout budget this week. ‘We hope to have that out in the next day or so,’ he told the Local Government Advisory Commission at a meeting in Easthampton.”
| | FROM THE HUB | | — “Boston to expand free museum program to non-BPS kids,” by Michael Jonas, CommonWealth Beacon: “Mayor Michelle Wu said a pilot program providing free access to a set of Boston museums to Boston Public Schools students will be expanded next year to include all school-age children in the city. Wu lauded the program’s success on Tuesday, saying more than 36,000 Boston students and their family members have taken advantage of it since its launch earlier this year. But the initiative became the flashpoint for criticism because it did not include some 13,000 Boston students who attend charter schools or students who are bused to suburban districts through the Metco program or who attend private schools. Speaking on GBH radio Tuesday morning, Wu said the city was in ‘the final stages of nailing down an agreement that would expand [the program] to all school-age children throughout Boston.’” — “Wu addresses BPS parents’ bus frustration: ‘Major challenges are being addressed’,” by Grace Zokovitch, Boston Herald. — “Recent gun violence prompts Boston city councilor to request more police in Dorchester, Mattapan,” by Gayla Cawley, Boston Herald: “Recent violence in Dorchester and Mattapan, including a horrific murder at a barbershop that went viral on social media, has one Boston city councilor calling for more of a police presence in those two neighborhoods. City Council Vice President Brian Worrell alerted various neighborhood groups via email Monday that he plans to formally request that the Boston Police Department beef up their patrols and staffing levels in the B-3 and C-11 precincts ‘over the long term,’ citing the ‘recent violence’ that has occurred in ‘our community.’” — “50 years later, sisters confront the pain of Boston’s busing crisis,” by Emily Judem and Stephanie Leydon, GBH News. — “Wu holding out hope for her commercial property tax plan,” by Adam Reilly, GBH News: “Boston Mayor Michelle Wu tells GBH News she’s still hopeful that the state Legislature will allow Boston to temporarily raise commercial tax rates as commercial property valuations drop, a move she says would keep Boston residents from paying drastically higher property taxes over the next few years.”
| | AT THE BALLOT BOX | | — “Turnout for the Mass. primary election was once again poor, but it has been worse,” by Danny McDonald, The Boston Globe: “The good news: For statewide voter turnout for this month’s state primaries, it could’ve been much worse. And it has been. Turnout for Massachusetts’ Sept. 3 primaries was 16.6 percent, in which more than 841,000 of the state’s 5-million-plus eligible voters cast votes, Secretary of State William F. Galvin’s office announced on Tuesday.”
| | DAY IN COURT | | — “In case of $70,000 Tiffany ring, SJC judges fully engaged,” by Jennifer Smith, CommonWealth Beacon: “Justices at the state’s highest court appear open to doing away with the traditional approach to answering a very niche question: should it matter whose fault it is when an engagement goes sour, even with a $70,000 diamond ring on the line? During arguments in the case of Bruce Johnson and Caroline Settino — with a pricey Tiffany & Co. engagement ring and engraved wedding bands at stake — Supreme Judicial Court justices were frank about their dismay at being asked to rummage around in romantic relationship details to determine whether an engagement ring should be treated a unique kind of gift subject to a unique kind of legal analysis.”
| | IT'S NOT EASY BEING GREEN | | — “New England governors, Canadian premiers say cross-border bonds will help them tackle climate change,” by Katie Lannan, GBH News: “Governors from across New England and their counterparts from several provinces in eastern Canada are pledging to work together on a regional approach to climate change. The governors and premiers met Tuesday at Boston University, where they signed resolutions reconvening a pair of binational committees focused on energy and the environment.” — “Adapting together: Local support, federal funding help farms respond to climate change,” by Jacob Nelson, Greenfield Recorder.
| | MARIJUANA IN MASSACHUSETTS | | — “Fight between Goldberg, O’Brien heading to court,” by Bhaamati Borkhetaria, CommonWealth Beacon.
| | THE LOCAL ANGLE | | — “Mass. colleges get poor marks on free speech,” by Christian M. Wade, The Salem News. — “Brockton School board members 'very disappointed' with deficit probe. Here's why,” by Christopher Butler, The Brockton Enterprise: “The Brockton School Committee received a presentation from the independent audit firm RSM Tuesday night regarding its much-anticipated findings from the review of the district's bombshell fiscal year 2023 $18.25 million budget deficit. This is a different audit from the one Mayor Robert Sullivan discussed at a press conference Tuesday afternoon, but it's on the same topic — the deficit that rocked the school department and city. On Aug. 31, 2023, Sullivan, who also chairs the school committee, announced a shocking $14.4 million deficit in its budget for fiscal year 2023. According to a report from February 2024 by data analytics firm Open Architects, that deficit was actually $18.25 million.” — “Worcester City Council lowers citywide speed limit to 25 mph,” by Adam Bass, Masslive: “The Worcester City Council voted unanimously on Tuesday night to approve a proposal to lower the city’s speed limit. The proposal lowers the city’s statutory speed limit to 25 mph from 30 mph and establishes 20 mph safety zones in ‘sensitive areas,’ including parks, playgrounds, hospitals, senior citizen housing and childcare centers.” — “Dighton-Rehoboth forfeits first game under new gender policy,” by Tyler Hetu, The Sun Chronicle. — “Quincy City Council voted itself a big raise. Why one councilor is refusing to accept it,” by Peter Blandino, The Patriot Ledger: “One city councilor says he won't be taking the new $13,500 increase in annual salary. City councilors wrapped up the last session before the summer break by approving raises both for the mayor and themselves. But one of the body's nine members, Ward 6 Councilor Bill Harris, announced this week he will not accept the extra money.”
| | HEARD ‘ROUND THE BUBBLAH | | HAPPY BIRTHDAY — to former state Sen. Ben Downing, Andrew Sagarin, POLITICO’s Joe Schatz and Matt Giancola. Happy belated to Brian Farnkoff, who celebrated Tuesday. Want to make an impact? POLITICO Massachusetts has a variety of solutions available for partners looking to reach and activate the most influential people in the Bay State. Have a petition you want signed? A cause you’re promoting? Seeking to increase brand awareness among this key audience? Share your message with our influential readers to foster engagement and drive action. Contact Jesse Shapiro to find out how: jshapiro@politico.com.
| | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Subscribe to the POLITICO Playbook family Playbook | Playbook PM | California Playbook | Florida Playbook | Illinois Playbook | Massachusetts Playbook | New Jersey Playbook | New York Playbook | Ottawa Playbook | Brussels Playbook | London Playbook View all our politics and policy newsletters | | Follow us | | | | |
