MEET MAURA
From Point Guard to People’s Governor
Height: 5’4” | Team: Massachusetts
FIRST Woman elected Governor of MA
FIRST LGBTQ+ elected Governor of MA
RESIDES Arlington, MA
PLAYER NUMBER #14
Rooted in Community
Maura grew up in an old farmhouse in a small town in New Hampshire. She learned how to drive a tractor from her grandfather and how to make jam from her grandmother, who both lived nearby in Newburyport, Massachusetts. Maura is the oldest of five kids, raised by a single mom — a nurse who worked nights taking care of patients and days at the local elementary school. Maura was a Brownie and a Girl Scout but sometimes got caught stealing apples from the orchard next door.
As a kid, Maura’s life revolved around sports. She played with the boys until she pitched her last out in eighth grade Little League. In high school, she took to soccer, basketball, and tennis and moved to Massachusetts for good to attend Harvard College, where she captained the basketball team. After graduation, she spent two years as the starting point guard on a professional basketball team in Europe. She learned the value of team work and that the most valuable statistic is the assist.
Maura has always understood the value of hard work. Growing up, she babysat, cleaned houses, coached, and worked her way through college and law school waitressing at a local diner and at the Hampton Beach Casino.
After graduating from Northeastern Law School and working for years at WilmerHale LLP, Maura chose to leave private practice and serve in the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office. Maura brought landmark cases to protect homeowners during the foreclosure crisis, defend civil rights, and end the discriminatory Defense of Marriage Act.
Maura ran for Attorney General in 2014 as a first-time candidate and served two terms as Massachusetts Attorney General. As the People’s Lawyer, she took on the tough issues affecting Massachusetts residents. She sued Purdue Pharma and the Sackler family for their role in supercharging the opioid crisis and destroying lives and families across the country. She protected consumers and workers, fought to lower utility and health care costs, and kept our communities safer by prosecuting drug traffickers and human traffickers.
Making History
In 2023, Maura became the first woman elected Governor in Massachusetts history and the first openly lesbian Governor elected in the country. In her first term in office, Maura has led by building upon what makes Massachusetts special and delivering on her promises to expand opportunities and cut costs.
In just four years, she has cut taxes, built more homes to lower costs, opposed utility rate increases, capped health care deductibles and co-pays for the first time, transformed our veterans’ homes, and turned around the MBTA. She’s also made record investments in our schools, which are now ranked the best in the nation. She’s delivered on all of these commitments while standing up to President Trump and his attacks on Massachusetts.
She stood up to protect vaccine access when Trump and Robert Kennedy Jr. tried to take it away, protected SNAP benefits so people can continue to feed their families, pushed back on ICE’s dangerous tactics in our communities, and delivered the most significant relief in the country to keep the costs of health care down for families, seniors, and small business owners after the Trump administration gutted the Affordable Care Act.
Maura and her teammate Lieutenant Governor Kim Driscoll love working hard each day to get things done for Massachusetts.
Maura lives in Arlington, Massachusetts with her partner Joanna Lydgate and their family.
