Steven Grossman (Massachusetts)

	Steven Grossman
	Democratic National Convention, 2016
Status:	Superdelegate
State:	Massachusetts
Supporting:	Hillary Clinton
	Delegates to the DNC 2016
	Calendar and delegate rules overview • Types of delegates • State election law and delegates • Superdelegates by state

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Steven Grossman is the former Democratic Massachusetts State Treasurer. He assumed office on January 19, 2011, and served until January 21, 2015.^[1]

Grossman was first elected state treasurer on November 2, 2010, with 52 percent of the statewide vote. He defeated Republican candidate Karyn Polito and various write-in challengers by an almost 10-point margin of victory in the general election.^[2]

He came up for re-election in 2014, but Grossman declared his candidacy for the governorship. According to state law, Grossman's gubernatorial bid precluded him from seeking re-election to his current post, since governor and state treasurer are simultaneously elected executive offices in the Massachusetts government.^[3] Grossman lost in the Democratic primary on September 9, 2014.

Before becoming state treasurer, Grossman worked for his family business, Grossman Marketing group, and served as its CEO. His ample private sector experience is balanced by decades of service to political causes and activist organizations. Grossman's ties to, and influence within, the Democratic Party apply both on the state and national level, having formerly been chairman for both the Massachusetts and National Democratic parties.^[1] He also held the position of president of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) for five years.

Biography

Grossman served as the CEO of Grossman Marketing Group, a business that has been in his family for four generations. He also was chairman for both the Massachusetts and National Democratic parties.^[1] From 1992 to 1997, Grossman served as president of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).^[4] In 2002, he had an unsuccessful bid for Massachusetts Governor.^[5]

Grossman holds his undergraduate degree from Princeton University and his Masters of Business Administration from Harvard Business School.

Education

Bachelor's degree, Princeton University
Master's degree, Harvard Business School^[1]

Political career

Massachusetts Treasurer (2011 - 2015)

Grossman was elected Massachusetts Treasurer in 2010. He was replaced by Deb Goldberg on January 21, 2015.^[6]

Elections

2014

See also: Massachusetts gubernatorial election, 2014

Grossman was running for the office of Governor of Massachusetts in 2014. Grossman won the state Democratic convention on June 14, 2014, while Attorney General Martha Coakley, came in second. Candidate Donald Berwick also secured a place on the primary ballot. Candidates Joe Avellone and Juliette Kayyem failed to achieve 15 percent of the convention backing to reach the primary ballot. Grossman ultimately lost in the Democratic primary election on September 9, 2014.^[7]^[8]

Results

Primary

Governor of Massachusetts, Democratic Primary, 2014
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Martha Coakley	42.4%	229,156
Steve Grossman	36.4%	196,594
Don Berwick	21.1%	113,988
Write-in candidates	0.2%	995
Total Votes		540,733
Election results via Massachusetts Secretary of State.

Campaign media

Steve Grossman ad: Limitless

Steve Grossman ad: Endorsed

Endorsements

Grossman earned the endorsement of The Boston Globe prior to the Democratic primary.^[9]

Race background

Current incumbent Deval Patrick, a Democrat first elected in 2006, was eligible to run for re-election in 2014. However, after winning re-election in 2010, Patrick stated that he would not seek a third term as governor in the 2014 election.^[10]^[11]

Democratic nomination

The field of Democrats competing for their party's nomination in the primary, which took place on September 9, 2014, attracted several current officeholders. Treasurer Steven Grossman won the state Democratic convention on June 14, 2014, while Attorney General Martha Coakley came in second. Physician Donald Berwick also secured a place on the primary ballot. Candidates Joe Avellone and Juliette Kayyem failed to achieve 15 percent of the convention backing to reach the primary ballot.^[12]^[13] Coakley was the leading candidate in all polls against Grossman, but did not win over the party itself prior to the primary. Analysts posited that Coakley defeated Grossman based on higher name recognition. Party leaders were concerned she will not be able to win the general election. Grossman was the former chairman of the state and national Democratic parties.^[14] Coakley defeated Grossman and Berwick in the September primary to reach the general election ballot.

Republican nomination

Daniel Wolf, a Republican state senator who announced his intentions to run early on, dropped out of the race after his campaign was suspended "indefinitely" since his Aug 2, 2013 disqualification by the Massachusetts Ethics Commission for being a stakeholder in an airline he previously founded, CapeAir. Since CapeAir is now a quasi-public agency whose board is controlled by the governor, the commission ruled Wolf's ties to be a violation of state conflict of interest prohibitions.^[15]^[16] On September 19, the commission granted Wolf a second extension to his compliance deadline, beyond which he would be forced to resign his state senate seat and officially withdraw from the gubernatorial race.^[17]^[18]^[19] The uncertainty about if and when he could resume campaigning resulted in Wolf's decision to officially withdraw from the race on October 21, 2013. ^[20]^[21]^[22]^[17]

Charlie Baker, a venture capitalist who was the Republican nominee for governor in 2010, again won his party's nomination at the convention on March 22, 2014. The other Republican challenger, Mark Fisher, originally appeared to have narrowly missed an appearance on the primary ballot after failing to achieve 15 percent of the vote with just 14.765 percent, but after challenging the results in court the judge ruled that Fisher should be allowed to appear with Baker on the primary ballot.^[23]^[24] The blank ballots that were cast at the convention were counted in the total, reducing the percentage that Fisher received just enough to push him off the ballot. Kirsten Hughes, the Massachusetts Republican party chairwoman, told the media after the convention that blanks should not count towards the total. She retracted that statement days later saying she misspoke.^[25]^[26]^[27] Baker defeated Fisher in the Republican primary on September 9, 2014.

Baker had to defend his more moderate views as a Republican in order to distance himself from Coakley. Baker supports both abortion rights and gay marriage, a contrast to many views of his conservative Republican supporters.^[28]

Debates

August 20 Democratic debate

Martha Coakley, Steve Grossman and Don Berwick discussed a statewide initiative on casinos in Massachusetts during their debate at Stonehill College. This measure on the November 4 general election ballot would repeal a 2011 state law allowing resort casinos to operate in the state. Berwick differentiated himself from Coakley and Grossman by supporting Question 3, citing negative impacts on communities that host casinos. Coakley argued that she prefers other methods of economic growth, but revenue streams from casinos are used to strengthen programs to reduce gambling addiction. Grossman noted that casinos will add 15,000 jobs to the state when they open and will keep money from heading to casinos in other states.^[29]

Coakley and Grossman took jabs at each other over campaign finances following a discussion of Texas Gov. Rick Perry's indictment for abuse of official capacity. Grossman branched off the question about Perry to point out a case where Coakley's office charged a lobbying firm with illegally charging a client for fees dependent on successful lobbying to the Massachusetts State Legislature. The attorney general announced that the Brennan Group, run by former state Sen. John Brennan, would pay $100,000 to the Franciscan Hospital for Children. Grossman noted that the settlement was far short of the $370,855 in fees paid to the group, and asked Coakley if Brennan was a donor to her campaign. Coakley answered that her campaign contributions were publicly available, and expressed opposition to unlimited funding through super PACs. Grossman's mother was the lead funding source for a super PAC that supported the gubernatorial candidate.^[29]

Polls

General election
All candidates: October 2014

Governor of Massachusetts 2014 Five-way race: October 2014
Poll	Martha Coakley	Charlie Baker	Evan Falchuk	Jeff McCormick	Scott Lively	Don't know/ Refused	Margin of error	Sample size

WBUR October 22-25, 2014	40%	41%	4%	1%	2%	12%	+/-4.4	494
UMass Lowell October 21-25, 2014	41%	45%	3%	2%	1%	8%	+/-3.6	601
The Boston Globe October 19-21, 2014	37%	46%	3%	2%	2%	8%	+/-4.9	400
WBUR October 15-18, 2014	42%	43%	1%	2%	1%	10%	+/-4.4	501
The Boston Globe October 12-14, 2014	37%	39%	3%	2%	2%	17%	+/-4.9	400
WBUR October 8-11, 2014	42%	39%	2%	2%	1%	14%	+/-4.4	500
The Boston Globe October 5-7, 2014	39%	34%	3%	2%	2%	20%	+/-4.9	400
WBUR October 1-4, 2014	41%	39%	2%	2%	1%	15%	+/-4.4	504
UMass Amherst/WBZ September 26-October 2, 2014	48%	44%	2%	2%	2%	2%	+/-5.5	414
AVERAGES	40.78%	41.11%	2.56%	1.89%	1.56%	11.78%	+/-4.6	468.22
Note: The polls above may not reflect all polls that have been conducted in this race. Those displayed are a random sampling chosen by Ballotpedia staff. If you would like to nominate another poll for inclusion in the table, send an email to [email protected].

All candidates through September 2014

Governor of Massachusetts 2014 Five-way race: Through September 2014
Poll	Martha Coakley	Charlie Baker	Evan Falchuk	Jeff McCormick	Scott Lively	Don't know/ Refused	Margin of error	Sample size

SocialSphere September 28-30, 2014	36%	39%	2%	1%	1%	21%	+/-4.89	401
The Boston Globe September 25-28, 2014	43.8%	43.2%	2%	1.6%	0.4%	9%	+/-4	500
WBUR September 24-27, 2014	41%	38%	1%	2%	1%	17%	+/-4.4	503
The Boston Globe September 21-23, 2014	38%	40%	2%	2%	1%	18%	+/-4.9	400
Western New England University Polling Institute September 20-28, 2014	43%	44%	2%	2%	1%	8%	+/-4	598
UMass Amherst/WBZ September 19-23, 2014	46%	45%	2%	2%	2%	3%	+/-4.4	600
WBUR September 16-21, 2014	43%	34%	2%	1%	1%	19%	+/-4.4	502
AVERAGES	41.54%	40.46%	1.86%	1.66%	1.06%	13.57%	+/-4.43	500.57
Note: The polls above may not reflect all polls that have been conducted in this race. Those displayed are a random sampling chosen by Ballotpedia staff. If you would like to nominate another poll for inclusion in the table, send an email to [email protected].

Governor of Massachusetts 2014 Four-way race
Poll	Martha Coakley	Charlie Baker	Evan Falchuk	Jeff McCormick	Don't know/ Refused	Margin of error	Sample size

The Boston Globe July 13-15, 2014	38%	33%	1%	8%	19%	+/-5	625
Western New England University Polling Institute March 31-April 7, 2014	54%	25%	3%	3%	15%	+/-5	424
AVERAGES	46%	29%	2%	5.5%	17%	+/-5	524.5
Note: The polls above may not reflect all polls that have been conducted in this race. Those displayed are a random sampling chosen by Ballotpedia staff. If you would like to nominate another poll for inclusion in the table, send an email to [email protected].

Major-party candidates

Governor of Massachusetts 2014 - Coakley v. Baker
Poll	Martha Coakley	Charlie Baker	Independent/other	Don't know/Refused	Margin of error	Sample size

Emerson College Polling Society October 26-29, 2014	42%	48%	4%	6%	+/-3.85	627
New York Times/CBS News/YouGov October 16-23, 2014	45%	41%	1%	13%	+/-3	2,218
Greenberg Quinlan Rosner October 20-22, 2014	45%	44%	5%	5%	+/-4	611
Rasmussen Reports October 13-14, 2014	46%	48%	2%	5%	+/-3	980
New York Times/CBS News/YouGov September 20-October 1, 2014	47%	41%	1%	11%	+/-2	2,389
Rasmussen Reports September 16-17, 2014	42%	42%	5%	10%	+/-4	750
The Boston Globe September 14-16, 2014	39%	36%	6%	19%	+/-4.9	407
WBUR September 11-14, 2014	44%	35%	15%	6%	+/-4.4	504
AVERAGES	43.75%	41.88%	4.88%	9.38%	+/-3.64	1,060.75
Note: The polls above may not reflect all polls that have been conducted in this race. Those displayed are a random sampling chosen by Ballotpedia staff. If you would like to nominate another poll for inclusion in the table, send an email to [email protected].

Primary and hypothetical polls

Governor of Massachusetts 2014 Four-way race with Grossman
Poll	Steve Grossman	Charlie Baker	Evan Falchuk	Jeff McCormick	Don't know	Refused	Margin of error	Sample size

Western New England University Polling Institute March 31-April 7, 2014	38%	29%	4%	9%	19%	1%	+/-5	424
Note: The polls above may not reflect all polls that have been conducted in this race. Those displayed are a random sampling chosen by Ballotpedia staff. If you would like to nominate another poll for inclusion in the table, send an email to [email protected].

Governor of Massachusetts 2014 Democratic Primary
Poll	Martha Coakley	Steve Grossman	Don Berwick	Joe Avellone	Dan Wolf	Juliette Kayyem	Undecided	Margin of error	Sample size

Public Policy Polling (September 20-23, 2013)	57%	10%	6%	4%	3%	2%	17%	+/-5.4	324
Note: The polls above may not reflect all polls that have been conducted in this race. Those displayed are a random sampling chosen by Ballotpedia staff. If you would like to nominate another poll for inclusion in the table, send an email to [email protected].

Governor of Massachusetts 2014 Democratic Primary
Poll	Martha Coakley	Steve Grossman	Don Berwick	Don't know	Margin of error	Sample size

University of Massachusetts-Lowell (August 25-31, 2014)	52%	20%	9%	19%	+/-4.55	685
Suffolk University/Boston Herald (August 2014)	42.3%	30%	15.7%	12%	+/-0	400
The Boston Globe (July 13-15, 2014)	46%	18%	5%	30%	+/-5	347
AVERAGES	46.77%	22.67%	9.9%	20.33%	+/-3.18	477.33
Note: The polls above may not reflect all polls that have been conducted in this race. Those displayed are a random sampling chosen by Ballotpedia staff. If you would like to nominate another poll for inclusion in the table, send an email to [email protected].

Governor of Massachusetts 2014 Hypothetical Match-up: Charlie Baker vs. Democratic Candidates
Poll	Charlie Baker	Martha Coakley	Steve Grossman	Donald Berwick	Juliette Kayyem	Not sure	Margin of error	Sample size

UMass-Amherst Internet Poll of Massachusetts March 31-April 6, 2014	32%	0%	0%	0%	32%	36%	+/-5.9	500
UMass-Amherst Internet Poll of Massachusetts March 31-April 6, 2014	32%	0%	0%	29%	0%	37%	+/-5.9	500
UMass-Amherst Internet Poll of Massachusetts March 31-April 6, 2014	29%	0%	35%	0%	0%	36%	+/-5.9	500
UMass-Amherst Internet Poll of Massachusetts March 31-April 6, 2014	34%	45%	0%	0%	0%	21%	+/-5.9	500
AVERAGES	31.75%	11.25%	8.75%	7.25%	8%	32.5%	+/-5.9	500
Note: The polls above may not reflect all polls that have been conducted in this race. Those displayed are a random sampling chosen by Ballotpedia staff. If you would like to nominate another poll for inclusion in the table, send an email to [email protected].