A coalition pushing a 2026 ballot question that would repeal a gun law Gov. Maura Healey signed last year raised more than $136,000 in four months but drew roughly a third of its cash from a gun manufacturer that fled Massachusetts in 2023, according to state data.
Supporters of the effort face a long road before Massachusetts residents hit the polls next year to decide whether to peel back a law that Beacon Hill Democrats have heralded as a measure to save lives but critics argue trample on fundamental Second Amendment rights.
Toby Leary, the head of the coalition and owner of Cape Gun Works in Hyannis, said he has been making a lot of “personal phone calls” to solicit donations and talking to firearms manufacturers who may chip in larger amounts of money.
“A lot of people have pledged monthly commitments and we’re going to continue to do that right up until the election,” he told the Herald Friday. “That’ll fund the fight and the education of the public and making people aware that their rights should never be so fragile that an elected body in any state can just vote them away.”
The Civil Rights Coalition logged 876 individual donations between Aug. 26, 2024 and Dec. 31, 2024, according to campaign finance records filed this past week.
Smith & Wesson, a gun company that left Massachusetts in 2023 because of legislative proposals that would prohibit it from manufacturing certain weapons, handed the coalition $50,000, its largest single donation, state records showed.
Leary said the company wanted to “step up and help” after facing “the hostility of government towards the industry.”
“I’m actually out at SHOT Show right now in Las Vegas and I personally thanked the CEO, Mark Smith, and thanked him for the generous donation,” Leary said by phone. “He was very happy to help and said, ‘keep fighting.’ So that was the impression from Smith & Wesson. They’re very eager to help the cause here in Massachusetts.”
Other top donations to the coalition include $5,000 from Timothy Hickey of Truro, who Leary said is a customer at his gun shop, and $2,500 each from Bachant Armaments Corporation of Lakeville and Carleton Burr of Marion, according to state records.
The group had more than $90,000 on hand as of Dec. 31 and spent more than $45,000 between August and December, according to state records.
Cash largely flowed to consultants like Wendy Wakeman, a longtime Republican strategist, and Tuesday Associates, a Massachusetts-based political consulting firm founded by former Herald columnist Holly Robichaud, state data shows.
Leary said the coalition is just getting started with “fundraising, education, and continuing the grassroots activism.”
“We’re going to be doing some educational seminars around the state, and the donations that you just mentioned are going to fund that over the next year and a half. As we get closer to the election, we’ll ramp up our messaging and our presence, and we’re going to run it like a regular congressional campaign or any type of political campaign that you see,” he said.
Gov. Maura Healey endorsed Ben Wikler for chair of the Democratic National Committee, calling the head of the Wisconsin Democratic Party the “best choice” to lead the national organization forward.
Healey, who has built up her national profile over the past year by serving as a top surrogate to former Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential run, said Democrats need an “innovative strategy and organizing” machine to deliver “real change for working people” in the country.
“Ben knows how to craft a winning strategy, build an organizing machine with record resources, and deliver change for working people in urban, suburban, and rural areas alike. We need that nationwide, and I hope Massachusetts Democrats join me in supporting him,” Healey said in a statement provided by Wikler’s campaign.
Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek, Maine Gov. Janet Mills, and Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers also threw their support behind Wikler.
Mills said the Democratic National Committee needs a “battle-tested leader.”
“If we want to embrace the fight for working people and unite our party in the goal of winning change for working people’s lives, I implore my fellow Democrats to elect Ben the next chair of the DNC,” Mills said in a statement.