The next election for governor is more than a year away, but already the race is beginning to take shape. Here’s a look at some of the Democrats most likely to compete to take on Republican Governor Charlie Baker in his anticipated run for reelection in 2018:
Jay Gonzalez, the state budget chief under former governor Deval Patrick, who formally launched his campaign in late January. Gonzalez, who resigned recently as chief executive of CeltiCare Health, was Patrick’s second administration and finance secretary, a post that Baker also held during the 1990s. Like Baker, he left state government to join a health care organization. He has signaled he will try to link the governor to President Trump.
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Bob Massie, who held a kickoff event Tuesday evening in Somerville. Massie is a longtime environmentalist and entrepreneur. He left a job leading a climate preparedness, research and development lab at the University of Massachusetts Boston late last month. If his name is familiar to you, that might be because he was the Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor in 1994, running unsuccessfully on the Democratic ticket with Mark Roosevelt. He also ran briefly for the US Senate in 2011, but he dropped out after eventual victor Elizabeth Warren entered the race.
Setti Warren, the mayor of Newton. Warren has spent months considering a run for governor. On Saturday he plans to announce “the first step he’ll take to lead the Commonwealth forward,” according to a campaign e-mail sent Tuesday by his wife, Tassy. “Setti will be talking about the need for a new generation of leadership to tackle economic inequality and move the Commonwealth forward,” she wrote. (His announcement event will include not just speech-making but also face-painting and balloons for kids.)
Felice Belman can be reached at felice.belman@globe.com.