Elizabeth Dionne, the unsuccessful Republican candidate for state treasurer, went from virtually unknown to the state GOP’s best candidate in 2026. Yes, she lost in a landslide Tuesday, along with most of the Republican ticket. But given the buzz she was able to inspire in less than a year of campaigning, she may be one of the only Republicans who emerges from a harrowing night for the GOP with a future.
Dionne would be a “great congressional candidate, stellar treasurer candidate in four years,” Republican strategist Wendy Wakeman told me in an interview.
At the Republicans’ election night party in a Burlington hotel ballroom, Dionne said that while it was too soon to tell what her next steps would be, she planned to be involved in rebuilding a “a big-tent Republicanism” that embraces groups that don’t feel welcome.
“We believe in free minds, free people, free markets. What do we do to make that an appealing vision for people in Massachusetts?” she asked. “This is an opportunity for Republicans to regroup and think about what we can offer the voters of Massachusetts. … That rebuilding starts tomorrow, and it starts on the foundation that so many of us, as mission-driven candidates, established.”
Dionne’s platform emphasized accountability, transparency, and public visibility of the office, traits which she argued are currently lacking in the fourth most powerful seat in the state.
MassGOP chair Amy Carnevale noted that Dionne’s trajectory rose even in the last two weeks leading up to election day with media attention and public awareness. “I wish we had a couple more weeks,” she said at the Burlington election night party. “Every day seems like she’s gaining more and more momentum.”
Dionne’s race quietly stood apart from many other GOP races, from Senate candidate John Deaton’s populist attempt to persuade voters that he was nonpartisan to gubernatorial candidate Mike Minogue’s reluctance to strongly distance himself from President Trump.
Despite coming from a political family in California — her father, John L. Harmer, served as a California state senator and as Governor Ronald Reagan’s last lieutenant governor — Dionne has not embraced the state party, unenrolling in the party in 2020 and reenrolling in November 2025 to run for treasurer.
But she seems eager to move forward in the wake of the campaign. Carnevale said she hoped Dionne would run again. “I know that she would have a ton of support, not only within the Republican Party but with independents and Democrats as well.”
Dionne fits the moderate Republican mold that has historically been successful in Massachusetts. She supports abortion rights and gay marriage. And although she lost in her hometown of Belmont, where she served on the select board, she garnered a fan base, raising more than $400,000.
She also has received high praise from her fellow select board members and others who worked with her across the aisle in Belmont.
“She’s a reformer,” said Democratic Belmont select board chair Taylor Yates. “She’s tough, she has a lot of integrity. If you want to send someone in to clean up, she’s your lady.”
At the election night party, the mood among supporters slowly deflated from initial excitement to frustration with Governor Maura Healey and the inability of Republicans to gain traction in a dark blue state.
Democratic incumbent Senator Ed Markey also obliterated his opponent, John Deaton. While he wasn’t surprised by the outcome, Deaton said that he hoped it would be more competitive.
“The division is so real. I thought that being a non-Trumper and being more moderate would break through the anger, but it’s palpable,” he told me the morning after the election. “I thought I could offer people a real alternative, but a lot of them don’t want to hear it, they’re just too angry.”
He won’t entirely rule out running again but doesn’t currently envision another race, especially at the federal level, he said.
Republican Micah Jones, 38, who lost against Democrat Dan Koh in the Sixth Congressional District, is another candidate Wakeman sees representing the future of the state’s Republican politics once the party is no longer burdened with an unpopular president.
Massachusetts benefits from having a two-party system, and it needs Republicans to put the heat on the majority party and keep it accountable and transparent. The next four years offer an opportunity for Republicans in the state to redefine themselves, better organize at a local level, and deepen the bench of qualified candidates to fund and back for the next election cycle.
“The great news … is Trump is gone in two years,” Wakeman said. “This is our last election with the shadow of Trump over us.”
The question that remains is how far Trump’s shadow casts. Dionne seems more than ready for a clean break.
“It’s never healthy to have a personality cult, and I think that cult has just been broken,” she said.
Kara Bettis Carvalho can be reached at kara.carvalho@globe.com. Follow her on X @karabettis.