The race for Massachusetts attorney general is shining a light on how far apart Democrats and Republicans land on some of the most pressing issues facing the nation.
Incumbent Democrat Maura Healey, a highly popular Boston Democrat, is taking on Republican challenger James “Jay” McMahon, a conservative Cape Cod lawyer.
The clash of ideals was on full display during an Oct. 3 debate hosted by WGBH, when the pair tussled over various issues, including drug addiction and immigration. The duo also divided sharply on the issue of gun rights.
McMahon, a lifelong resident of Cape Cod, argued government gun-control policies rarely reduce violence, but rather take guns out of the hands of law-abiding gun owners and sellers.
“Only legal guns get off the street,” said McMahon, who won the Republican nomination last month after beating Dan Shores of Hingham in the primary election. Healey ran unopposed.
McMahon obtained his law degree from Suffolk University and served in the Army National Guard. With more than three decades of legal experience, McMahon is a member of the Upper Cape Tea Party, a Cape Cod group formed in 2012 that advocates for limited government, individual liberties and fiscal responsibility, according to its website.
Healey, meanwhile, worked for seven years in the state attorney general’s office before she was elected to the top job in 2014. She also worked a stint in the private sector for the legal firm WilmerHale, and became the first openly gay attorney general in the United States. Last November, respondents to a Western New England University Polling Institute poll gave the attorney a 64 percent job approval rating.
McMahon, an ardent supporter of the Second Amendment, was specifically critical of Healey’s 2016 decision to apply the state’s assault rifle ban to “copycat” firearms that operate similarly to
