A member of the Democratic Party, she served as Massachusetts Attorney General from 2015 to 2023 and was elected governor in 2022, defeating the Republican nominee, former state representative Geoff Diehl.

Hired by Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley in 2007, Healey served as chief of the Civil Rights Division, where she led the state's challenge to the federal Defense of Marriage Act.

She defeated former State Senator Warren Tolman in the Democratic primary and Republican attorney John Miller in the general election.

[7] Her mother was a nurse at Lincoln Akerman School in Hampton Falls; her father was a captain in the United States Public Health Service and an engineer.

Healey subsequently spent more than seven years at the law firm Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP, where she worked as an associate and then junior partner and focused on commercial and securities litigation.

[14] She also served as a special assistant district attorney in Middlesex County, where she tried drug, assault, domestic violence, and motor vehicle cases in bench and jury sessions and argued bail hearings, motions to suppress, and probation violations and surrenders.

[14] Hired by Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley in 2007, Healey served as chief of the Civil Rights Division, where she spearheaded the state's challenge to the federal Defense of Marriage Act.

[17] As a division chief and bureau head in the Attorney General's Office, Healey oversaw 250 lawyers and staff members and supervised the areas of consumer protection, fair labor, ratepayer advocacy, environmental protection, health care, insurance and financial services, civil rights, antitrust, Medicaid fraud, nonprofit organizations and charities, and business, technology, and economic development.

[20] Healey's campaign was endorsed by State Senators Stan Rosenberg, Dan Wolf, Jamie Eldridge and America's largest resource for pro-choice women in politics, EMILY's List.

[25][26][27] Healey wrote an op-ed in the Worcester Telegram and Gazette on upholding the Massachusetts buffer zone law, which she worked on at the Attorney General's Office.

[33][34] Healey's plan for criminal justice reform includes ending mandatory sentences for nonviolent drug offenders and focusing on treatment rather than incarceration.

[38] In 2021, as a result of this and other "arbitrary and damaging legislation",[39] Smith & Wesson announced plans to relocate its headquarters and much of its manufacturing from Massachusetts to Tennessee.

[40] On January 31, 2017, Healey announced that her office was joining a lawsuit challenging President Donald Trump's Executive Order 13769,[41][42] commonly known as a "Muslim ban.

[46][47] She said the new order, a revised version of the one that had been struck down, "remains a discriminatory and unconstitutional attempt to make good on [Trump's] campaign promise to implement a Muslim ban.

[47][48] On May 11, 2017, after Trump fired FBI Director James Comey, Healey led efforts calling for a special counsel to investigate Russia's meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

On November 8, 2022, she defeated Geoff Diehl, the Republican nominee, in the general election, which made her the nation's first openly lesbian governor.

According to Healey, the office will be tasked with working with state and local leaders to help the Commonwealth reach its climate goals and help coordinate the efforts.

[53][54] In February 2023, the Healey administration announced a $742 million tax cut package to be filed, as an addition to its proposed fiscal year 2024 budget.

[57] At a news conference held at Bunker Hill Community College in March 2023, Healey announced a $20 million appropriation to her 2024 fiscal year state budget proposal to create a free community college program, "MassReconnect", for Massachusetts residents 25 or older with a secondary school degree or post-secondary course credits, to address the skills gap in the state workforce.

Facing criticism for this decision, especially from Massachusetts Republican Party chair Amy Carnevale, who called on her to withdraw the nomination, Healey defended the choice.

She clarified that their relationship did not begin until Lydgate had departed the role to co-found the States United Democracy Center, a voting rights advocacy organization.