'I love the job I have': Will New Bedford's Jon Mitchell run for Gov. Baker's seat?

NEW BEDFORD — Mayor Jon Mitchell, who will be starting year three of his four-year term, hasn't said either way whether he'll seek higher office now that Gov. Charlie Baker isn't running again.

"I love the job I have," he told the Standard-Times in a statement Thursday. "If I intend to do something different, I’ll let you know.”

The jockeying for Baker's seat has begun with three Democrats — Sen. Sonia Chang-Diaz, former Sen. Ben Downing and Harvard professor Danielle Allen — declaring their candidacy for governor according to State House News Service. On the Republican side, former Rep. Geoff Diehl is running with the endorsement of former President Donald Trump.

Mitchell is a Democrat and, if he decided to seek the job of governor, he could find himself fighting for elbow room in a crowded group of candidates.

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One of those candidates could be Attorney General Maura Healey.

A recent poll of 750 Massachusetts residents, including 687 registered voters, by UMass Amherst and WCVB, found that if Healey were to enter the race she would likely be a top contender for the Democratic nomination.

Healey's term as attorney general ends in 2022, as does Baker's.

In an interview on Bloomberg TV, Healey would not answer if she would run for governor next year, saying she would "save that for another day" and instead offered praise for the two-term Baker.

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So would Mitchell be interested in running for Healey's spot if she, indeed, runs for governor? Again, Mitchell said he loves his job as mayor of New Bedford.

The city's website points to Mitchell's background in law. He was Assistant United States Attorney in Boston, having previously served as a federal prosecutor in Washington, D.C. in the Attorney General’s Honor Program. He prosecuted cases of national significance, which included his serving as the lead prosecutor on the task force searching for Boston mob boss James “Whitey” Bulger.

Mitchell is a graduate of Harvard College and the George Washington Law School.

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Mitchell is in office until 2023. He was the first mayor elected to the city's first four-year term that began with the 2019 election. Prior to that, a mayor's term was two years. He was first elected as mayor in 2011.

Standard-Times digital producer Linda Roy can be reached at lroy@s-t.com. You can follow her on Twitter at @LindaRoy_SCT. Support local journalism by purchasing a digital or print subscription to The Standard-Times.

This article originally appeared on Standard-Times: Will New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell run to be Massachusett's governor