POLITICO Massachusetts Playbook: DEMS pick PARTY CHAIR — Childcare strains HEALTH CARE staff — WARREN’s advice for BIDEN’s first day

BY STEPHANIE MURRAY

Presented by The Ridge Wallet

GOOD MORNING, MASSACHUSETTS. DEMS TO SELECT NEW LEADER — Massachusetts Democrats will vote for the next leader of their party today, and the vote will have implications for the coming 2022 gubernatorial race. Chair Gus Bickford is vying for another term, and he's facing a challenge from former gubernatorial candidate Bob Massie and former candidate for lieutenant governor Mike Lake. Democrats are eager to take back the governor's office in two years. But it'll be an uphill climb, especially if popular Republican Gov. Charlie Baker runs for a third term. Jay Gonzalez, the Democratic candidate in 2018, only earned 33% of the vote against Baker. And that was on the same ticket where Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren won her reelection with 60% of the vote, and Attorney General Maura Healey won another term with 70% of the vote. Tonight's vote will also be something of a referendum on how Bickford handled a scandal involving Holyoke Mayor Alex Morse's congressional campaign during the 2020 primary. An independent investigation released last week found that Bickford and other leaders violated party bylaws by getting involved in the contested primary when a group of college Democrats approached them with allegations against Morse. The allegations — and later the fallout — became a national news story in the final weeks ahead of the September primary. The report was the subject of a scathing Boston Globe editorial in yesterday's paper published under the headline "The Massachusetts Democratic Party’s dirty tricks." Some members of the state committee have blasted Bickford for the incident and are calling for a new chair, while some party insiders who plan to vote for Bickford say he was faced with a difficult situation. During a forum on Tuesday night, Bickford pointed to his experience leading the party as reason why he deserves another term, and said having a Democratic president during the coming election cycle will open up opportunities. Lake is pitching himself as someone who can restore trust in the party, and would do the job in a part-time capacity in order to invest the chair salary elsewhere. Massie's vision for the party includes raising more money, bringing young people into the fold and tackling racism. Have a tip, story, suggestion, birthday, anniversary, new job, or any other nugget for the Playbook? Get in touch: smurray@politico.com. TODAY — Gov. Charlie Baker and Boston Mayor Marty Walsh virtually join a ribbon cutting for Phase Two of the Overlook Terrace at Orient Heights affordable housing development. Walsh participates in a virtual signing ceremony for the Housing Stability Notification Act, then holds a media availability about Covid-19. The Governor’s Council holds a hearing on Baker's nomination of Justice Kimberly Budd as chief justice of the state Supreme Judicial Court. Rep. Lori Trahan attends a ribbon-cutting for Veterans Northeast Outreach Center, Inc. in Haverhill, and a groundbreaking ceremony for the new Soldier Squad Performance Research Institute at the U.S. Army Natick Soldier Systems Center.

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THE LATEST NUMBERS

– “Massachusetts reports 2,495 new COVID cases, 37 deaths on Wednesday,” by Tanner Stening, MassLive.com: “State health officials confirmed another 2,495 coronavirus cases on Wednesday, bringing the statewide count to 172,471 infections since the start of the pandemic. Wednesday’s total is based on 80,321 new molecular tests, according to the Department of Public Health. There are now 25,055 active cases of the virus in Massachusetts.”

DATELINE BEACON HILL

– “High-ranking MBTA official Samantha Silverberg to serve on President-elect Joe Biden’s transition team,” by Tanner Stening, MassLive.com: “President-elect Joe Biden has tapped a high-ranking Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority official to serve on his transition team. Samantha Silverberg, deputy chief administrative officer of the MBTA, will be part of the incoming administration’s agency review team overseeing the Department of Homeland Security and the Office of Management and Budget.” – “In virtual ceremony, Baker and other officials honor veterans for their legacy, sacrifices,” by Breanne Kovatch, Boston Globe: “While honoring it may look a little different this year, Chen was joined by Governor Charlie Baker and state Secretary for the Department of Veterans' Services Cheryl Lussier Poppe for the pre-recorded virtual ceremony, which was streamed at 10 a.m. Wednesday.” – “Baker, lawmakers at odds over opioid fund,” by Christian M. Wade, Eagle-Tribune: “Gov. Charlie Baker and legislative leaders are wrangling over control of a fund set up to collect money from lawsuits against opioid manufacturers. As part of a $425 million spending package closing out last fiscal year's budget, the Legislature set up a new ‘opioid recovery and remediation trust fund’ to collect money from pending litigation against drug makers over their marketing practices.” – “Massachusetts House shoots down proposed tax increase on ‘unearned income’ to stop MBTA cuts,” by Nik DeCosta-Klipa, Boston.com: “Facing a projected budget deficit of $600 million in the coming fiscal year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the MBTA is planning significant cuts in service across the system, in the absence of additional state or federal funding to close the gap caused by lost fare revenue. During a legislative session Wednesday afternoon, the Massachusetts House of Representatives rejected one such proposal.” – “Budget plan seeks expanded dental coverage,” by Christian M. Wade, Gloucester Daily Times: “Patients who have dental insurance through the state's Medicaid program are often faced with a difficult choice when they have a tooth that's badly decayed: They can pay out of pocket for a costly root canal, or have the tooth removed. Budget cuts in the midst of a recession forced Beacon Hill leaders in 2010 to roll back adult coverage for most reconstructive dental procedures through MassHealth. Since then, its dental coverage has been mostly limited to routine cleanings and tooth extractions.” – “Baker Defends Prison COVID Policies Amid Calls For More Action,” by Deborah Becker, WBUR: “Gov. Charlie Baker is defending the way state correction officials are handling the coronavirus pandemic as some state and federal lawmakers are publicly urging him to do more to prevent the spread of the virus behind bars. After recent spikes in positive cases at some state prisons, Baker said the state has reduced the number of people incarcerated and the Department of Correction has taken the appropriate steps to contain the virus.”

FROM THE HUB

– “Health care staffing levels strained by childcare 'crisis,' execs say,” by Jessica Bartlett, Boston Business Journal: “Remote schooling demands and concerns over the coronavirus have created new staffing gaps for health care systems, which say they are struggling to find people to fill necessary roles. Months after patient volume was slashed due to coronavirus lockdowns and precautions, hospitals and doctor groups have largely rebounded, bringing in patients who delayed care as well as people who would have normally come to the hospital for routine services. But finding the staff to care for that influx hasn’t always been easy.” – “Campbell says newly announced Boston tourism campaign ‘makes absolutely no sense,’” by Danny McDonald, Boston Globe: “City councilor and mayoral candidate Andrea Campbell is clashing with Mayor Martin J. Walsh over his administration’s new $2 million tourism campaign that is funded with federal COVID-19 relief money, saying the initiative ‘makes absolutely no sense’ when the city is facing more immediate pandemic needs.” – “Boston threatening to evict Faneuil Hall Market landlord,” by Colman M. Herman, CommonWealth Magazine: “Boston officials are threatening to evict the company that leases Faneuil Hall Marketplace for failing to make a $2.1 million payment to the city – a hardball move that comes after the firm refused to forgive rent owed by marketplace tenants.” – “Massachusetts cultural institutions have lost $483 million in revenue since pandemic hit,” by The Berkshire Eagle: “Massachusetts' nonprofit and municipal cultural organizations have lost more than $483 million in revenue since the coronavirus pandemic hit in March, according to a Mass Cultural Council survey. The state's working creatives, which include individual artists and teaching artists, along with scientists and humanists, have lost more than $20 million in personal income due to the pandemic.” – “Traces of coronavirus in Greater Boston wastewater samples approaching spring levels,” by Tanner Stening, MassLive.com: “Traces of coronavirus recorded in wastewater samples from the Boston metropolitan area in November show that the presence of the respiratory infection there is approaching spring levels, according to data from the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority. The data, depicted on a graph, shows a spike in viral RNA from wastewater samples in communities on the north and south sides of the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority system.” – “Massachusetts hospital bans some visitors as coronavirus hospitalizations rise,” by Rick Sobey, Boston Herald: “Worcester’s UMass Memorial Medical Center is banning visitors to its University Campus emergency department due to a rise in coronavirus hospitalizations, the hospital announced on Tuesday. The decision to halt visitors to the emergency department comes as COVID-19 hospitalizations continue to increase across the state.” – “Mass. Plan Swaps Hospital Competition For Collaboration As COVID-19 Surges A Second Time,” by Martha Bebinger, WBUR: “In the spring, as patients with COVID-19 poured into Massachusetts hospitals, an unusual, ad hoc collaboration kicked in. Boston Children’s Hospital took in kids from other institutions that needed more space for adults. Hospitals loaned ventilators and other equipment to competitors. And they handed over vials of scarce meds.” – “Boston will pay $3.1 million to man freed after wrongful conviction,” by Vernal Coleman, Boston Globe: “The city’s settlement this summer with 57-year-old Frederick Clay is a capstone to Clay’s nearly four-decade fight to establish his innocence. He was exonerated three years ago after investigators determined that a shoddy Boston Police Department investigation, reliant on a witness who was hypnotized by the police, led to his wrongful conviction.” – “To Boston parents, treatment of most vulnerable students underscores district’s poor planning, communication,” by Bianca Vázquez Toness, Boston Globe: “When school officials abruptly sent home Boston’s high needs students with no word on the next steps, it was the latest example of what many parents and other critics say is weak and often confusing planning by the state’s largest school district.” PLANES, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES – “Advocates rally at VA on Veterans Day over looming MBTA cuts,” by Sean Philip Cotter, Boston Herald: “MBTA and veterans advocates slammed the T’s plans to throttle down service amid the pandemic, focusing on reductions on the Green Line headed toward the Jamaica Plain VA Medical Center at Heath Street.” – “Eliminating MBTA ferries called ‘terrible idea,’” by Sarah Betancourt, CommonWealth Magazine: “The MBTA says not enough people are using the ferries right now to justify the cost of continuing to run them. Under the T’s proposal, scheduled to be voted on in early December, ferries servicing Boston and Logan Airport from Hull, Hingham, and Charlestown could stop in January.” BALLOT WARS – “Groups spent nearly $60 million on ballot questions this year, blowing past Massachusetts records,” by Matt Stout, Boston Globe: “Massachusetts voters had to decide on just two statewide ballot questions this month. But they’ve never seen so much money trying to sway their opinion on them. This year’s slate of ballot initiatives set new records for virtually every metric of spending: the most money expended by a single committee in Massachusetts history, the most spent on a single question, and with nearly $60 million reported so far, the most ever spent in a single year on all ballot questions.” CABINET WATCH – “Secretary Warren? A Pressley-Healey primary? A Biden White House sets off stars in Mass. Democrats' eyes,” by Matt Stout, Boston Globe: “It’s April 2021, and Treasury Secretary Elizabeth Warren is making the case for President Biden’s new tax package. Ambassador Martin J. Walsh is on a transatlantic flight to his new post in Ireland. And back in Massachusetts, Ayanna Pressley and Maura Healey are in the throes of a heated primary to become the state’s junior senator. Such is the alternative reality, or one of them, being gamed out by Massachusetts Democrats.” – “Multiple national union leaders are backing Marty Walsh to be Joe Biden’s labor secretary,” by Nik DeCosta-Klipa, Boston.com: “Boston Mayor Marty Walsh still hasn’t announced his intentions to run for re-election next year. Is that because 2021 could see him in President-elect Joe Biden’s cabinet instead? According to reports, Walsh has the backing of multiple national union leaders to be Biden’s labor secretary in the coming Democratic administration.”   A message from The Ridge Wallet:     DAY IN COURT – “Worcester considering using part of DCU Center for federal court trials,” by Nick Kotsopoulos, Telegram & Gazette: “During its 38-year history the DCU Center has hosted a wide array of entertainment and sporting events, as well as graduations, proms, weddings, trade shows, conferences and even city inaugural exercises. The convention center of the city-owned facility was used as a field hospital during the local spike in the COVID-19 pandemic in the spring and as an overflow shelter for homeless residents who tested positive for the coronavirus. Could a courtroom be in the cards next for the building?” WARREN REPORT – “Elizabeth Warren: What a Biden-Harris administration should prioritize on its first day,” by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, The Washington Post: “As Democrats celebrate the election of President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala D. Harris, we need to have an important conversation about building a 50-state party that can win up and down the ticket. But with a hobbled economy, an international health crisis, a vanishing middle class and widespread racial inequities, we also need to answer another important question — how to deliver on our campaign promises and improve the lives of the American people.” – “Progressives’ Wish List for Biden Starts With Warren and Sanders,” by Sydney Ember, The New York Times: “Two prominent progressive groups, the Sunrise Movement and Justice Democrats, on Wednesday urged President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. to name left-leaning allies including Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders to top government posts, firing an opening salvo in the left’s campaign to exert influence over Mr. Biden’s agenda.” – “Elizabeth Warren calls out CEOs for 'weak and meaningless' climate commitments,” by Matt Egan, CNN Business: “Senator Elizabeth Warren fears Corporate America's latest commitment to fight the climate crisis is little more than a publicity stunt. The Massachusetts Democrat is demanding the Business Roundtable, an influential lobbying group headed by leading CEOs, follow up on its recent call to adopt new principles to address climate change with concrete steps.” MOULTON MATTERS – “Rep. Moulton On Trump’s Refusal to Concede: ‘Frankly, We’ve Got to Be Concerned,'” by Aidan Connelly, GBH News: “Congressman Seth Moulton signaled Wednesday that he’s not taking lightly the president's refusal to concede his election loss. ‘I think we all should be concerned,’ Moulton said in an interview on Boston Public Radio. The former Marine Corps officer warned that the delayed transition between administrations is leaving the U.S. and its global allies vulnerable.” THE PRESSLEY PARTY – “Rep. Ayanna Pressley gets candid about trauma & microaggressions within Congress,” SiriusXM: “Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) says while it's been difficult having her identity weaponized by members of both parties, she's hopeful of the unified change that comes with ‘building new muscle.’” ABOVE THE FOLD — Herald: “BAIL BOUNCE," "CUTS TOO DEEP,” — Globe: “Delayed transition a risk for US, analysts warn," "If Biden taps a big name, dominoes may fall here.” FROM THE 413 – “Holyoke’s virtual Veterans Day honors those lost at Soldiers' Home, recognizes community leaders,” by Dennis Hohenberger, MassLive.com: “The city’s virtual Veterans Day ceremony presented awards to community members and remembered those who died of COVID-19 at the Soldiers' Home in Holyoke. The service is usually held at the War Memorial Building on Appleton Street. With the coronavirus pandemic raging nationally and limits on gatherings, the ceremony moved online.” – “What does a Joe Biden White House mean for Smith & Wesson and the gun industry?” by Jim Kinney, Springfield Republican: “George Washington made this ‘gun valley’ when the Springfield Armory started making muskets under his orders in 1794. Today, the inheritors of that gunmaking tradition — and their thousands of local employees — are waiting to see what impact Democratic President-elect Joe Biden will have on an industry wrapped up today with politics as much as technology.” THE LOCAL ANGLE – “Despite Worcester Public Schools delaying in-person learning, students scheduled to come in for MCAS tests in January,” by Melissa Hanson, MassLive.com: “Though most Worcester Public Schools students will remain in a remote learning model into early 2021, students are still scheduled to come into school buildings to take Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System tests in January, officials said.” – “Lowell City Council approves resolution supporting police,” by Alana Melanson, The Lowell Sun: “The City Council voted unanimously Tuesday night to approve a resolution supporting the Lowell Police Department, noting the ‘exemplary’ work of its officers. The resolution, put forward by Councilor Dave Conway, notes that as the state Legislature considers ‘fundamental’ police reform, city officials have witnessed Lowell police officers ‘perform to the highest level of professionalism.’” HAPPY BIRTHDAY – to former Senate President Stan Rosenberg, Seekonk state Rep. Steven Howitt, Business Insider reporter Haven Orecchio-Egresitz, and MassINC alum Winthrop Roosevelt. NEW EPISODE: DOWN FOR THE COUNT – On this week’s Horse Race podcast, hosts Steve Koczela, Jennifer Smith and Stephanie Murray break down the results of the 2020 election, with insights on the presidential race, local contests and polling. Subscribe and listen on iTunes and Sound Cloud. 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.   A message from The Ridge Wallet: The Ridge threw away the manual on what a wallet should look like. They've traded thick, bifold wallets for a slim design with RFID-blocking tech and the perfect space for your cards, cash, and ID - AKA the stuff you actually need. It's built to last, using materials like aircraft-grade aluminum, carbon, titanium, and the kind of thing you only need to buy once. (plus it's guaranteed for life.) If you aren't sold on The Ridge Wallet, you can test it out risk-free for 45 days. A better wallet exists - why settle for less? Shop now for free shipping and returns. Shop Now     JOIN TODAY: A WOMEN RULE ROUNDTABLE : 2020 has been a history-making year for women in politics. 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