BOSTON — Republican state Rep. Ken Sweezey hammered Gov. Maura Healey for placing blame on President Trump for the Bay State’s woes.

Soaring energy costs, illegal immigration bills, and quality of life issues plaguing Massachusetts are not D.C.’s fault, he said in a rebuttal to the governor’s State of the Commonwealth address.

Sweezey, R-Plymouth, delivered the MassGOP response from party headquarters in Boston, calling out Healey for a speech full of “half-truths” and for lacking accountability for issues he says she’s caused.

“What you have just heard over the course of the last hour was at best a speech full of half-truths and a misrepresentation of a failed administration. As expected, all Governor Healey did was try to point her finger at Washington and mask her failures of the last three years. Washington has nothing to do with the biggest problems that we face here in the Commonwealth, no matter how many times she shouts the president’s name,” Sweezey said.

“The only ones to blame are the governor herself and one party rule on Beacon Hill. The hard truth behind these remarks hide violations of the public trust, accountability, transparency, and worst of all lying about her commitment to affordability,” he said.

The governor went right to the two main themes of her address: touting what she calls her “focus” in lowering costs for Massachusetts residents before pivoting into an expected attack on President Trump.

“But Washington is only making it worse. We have a president who throws tantrums like a two-year-old. And I’m sorry to all the two-year-olds out there. He’s driving prices up with his tariffs. He’s cutting trillions of dollars out of health care. And Congress can’t seem to do anything,” Healey said. "Meanwhile, seniors have to worry about food and heat getting cut off. Veterans have their services cut. LGBT families are worried about their kids being targeted or losing their rights.”

Sweezey also slammed Healey for what he calls an “immense” lack of transparency and accountability from the Healey Administration, highlighting her lack of support for an audit of the state Legislature and calamities like the hiring of LaMar Cook, despite his violent criminal record and the $31,000 contract buyout given to him after he was fired for his arrest on drug and gun charges.

“It is no wonder then that we come across an administration that allowed the Applegreen service plaza contract debacle, or even managed to hire a high-level staffer in Springfield that was found to be trafficking drugs from within the state offices, after the State Police advised against his background,” Sweezey said. “Nothing is beyond the scope of secrecy and helping insiders on Beacon Hill. Remember barely over a year ago when 72% of you supported auditing the legislature? Well to no surprise it still hasn’t happened. From the Governor, to the AG, and party leadership there has been no accountability to enforce this law. That is because they do not care about you.”

Healey also criticized the president for his crackdown on illegal immigration – an issue playing out for a national audience in places like Minnesota, Maine and California, while rumors of a larger ICE operation coming to Massachusetts have been swirling.

“The Trump administration, right now, is sending masked agents by the thousands into cities and states. A woman is dead, others have been shot, innocent people detained, mothers and fathers ripped out of their cars with young children crying, pulling at their sides,” Healey said, honing back on her time as attorney general.

“I was a prosecutor and Attorney General, and I can tell you: none of this makes us safer. It shouldn’t be this way, and it needs to stop. Enough is enough. People are feeling fear, anxiety, and anguish. They’re seeing the chaos coming from Washington every day. They’re worried about their family, their job, their healthcare, their rights,” she said.

Sweezey responded by saying Healey has botched the illegal immigration issue in Massachusetts by running an emergency shelter system “ripe with fraud and abuse from the start.” He also called Healey out for celebrating the closure of the shelter program while shifting most of the families in it to the Home Base program.

“Tonight, the governor wanted to brag about closing the emergency shelter hotel program. Although it is true that the hotels have closed, that is not the end of the story. The problem persists and the budget has simply been moved from one line item to another. For context, when the governor offered modest reforms to the program last year, the number of families was capped around 7500,” Sweezey said.

“However, in Massachusetts, we have another program called Home Base, which offers direct rental assistance. Now, back in June of 2023, the home base program had nearly 1500 families in it. And yet, by late 2025, according to the Governor’s own Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities, there were over 9000 families enrolled in this program. For anyone quick at math, you can see no one has left. We are paying for the same number of people in the same way,” he added.

She also drew back on Trump’s cuts to health care and Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits in Massachusetts that she says has resulted in quality of life issues for Bay Staters, while blaming his tariffs on Canadian goods for soaring housing and energy costs.

“And when Donald Trump froze SNAP benefits, taking food from children and seniors? That is when all of Massachusetts rallied. We raised $7 million dollars for food pantries. And people and businesses across the state stepped in to help,” Healey added.

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins cut federal SNAP funding for Massachusetts, as well as 24 other states, after Healey refused to provide the Trump administration with data on recipients in the state.

The three Republican candidates for Massachusetts governor also chimed in on what they call Healey’s “failures.”

Standing outside the House Chamber, GOP candidate Brian Shortsleeve called it “more of the same” from Healey.

“We don’t have the highest electricity rates in the country because of Washington, D.C. That’s bad public policy here on Beacon Hill. Governor Healey could strip all those state-mandated fees out of your bills tomorrow,” Shortsleeve told the Herald, going on to criticize Healey’s attempt to blame Trump for issues Massachusetts faces.

“Maura Healey is going to run against Donald Trump because she has no record to run on. Her record in Massachusetts is a record of failure. When it comes to energy bills, when it comes to job growth, when it comes to our private sector economy, the state is heading in the wrong direction,” he said.

GOP megadonor and fellow gubernatorial candidate Mike Minogue responded to the address in a post to X, saying that the Massachusetts Healey described is not the one people are experiencing.

“Tonight, Governor Healey told you everything is fine. She said she has spent every day focused on making life more affordable in 2025. Has the audit that we voted for been done? Is it easier to live here then it was three years ago? Are your bills lower? No,” Minogue said. “She’s had three years to solve the problems, but instead she blames others and campaigns on the problems. All I hear about when I travel around the Commonwealth is how expensive everything has become for working people.”

Republican Candidate Mike Kennealy says the most telling indicator of Healey’s failures is the state’s outmigration crisis as Massachusetts ranks in the top five for outmigration in the country.

“Perhaps the most telling indicator of Governor Healey’s failures: people are leaving. Massachusetts ranks 47th in the nation in affordability. That’s why we are currently 4th in the nation for outmigration, according to U-Haul’s Growth Index,” Kennealy said. “When you drop off your kids at college, that may be the last time you see them other than on holidays, because young people are voting with their feet – they simply can’t see a pathway to prosperity here in Massachusetts.”

Healey also outlined new initiatives to lower electricity bills in February and March by 25% and gas bills by 10% while covering $180 million of the cost of the rate reductions from existing funding sources.

But the $180 million pledged by the governor is coming by way of alternative compliance payments and rate deferrals, which means ratepayers will end up paying the difference of the savings during the warmer, off-peak months. Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA) Secretary Rebecca Tepper’s office says utility companies will defer roughly 10% of gas bill payments through February and March with plans to recover those payments from ratepayers between May and October. Some utility companies are even considering recovering those payments with interest.

Executive Director of the Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance Paul Craney hammered Healey for the move, telling the Herald in a written statement that the real culprit behind high utility bills are state policies, namely the state’s NetZero by 2050 climate mandate, something supported by Healey.

“Today, she is simply telling ratepayers she wants to lower energy bills by having high energy bills paid by ratepayers during off peak months. That doesn’t actually lower bills if we simply have to pay for them later,” said Craney. “Massachusetts will only drive down energy costs when the NetZero climate mandate is repealed. The Governor knows this but hopes to fool the public with today’s latest political stunt.”

Sweezey wrapped up his response with a message of hope for the 2026 election, telling Massachusetts voters that they have a choice to vote themselves out of the “crisis” that Healey has put the state in.

“Now, the good news is it’s possible to change it. 2026 is an election year, and Republicans have constantly offered commonsense solutions. This affordability crisis, these bloated budgets, the lack of funding to our schools and public safety, it is all a choice. A choice that you will have in November,” Sweezey said. “Do not allow the direction of our great Commonwealth to be dictated by hopelessness, cynicism, or apathy, lest we continue down this horrible path. That is exactly what those in power want. It is time to show them that you are the ones that hold the power. I will see you at the polls in November.”

_____

©2026 MediaNews Group, Inc. Visit at bostonherald.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.