Governor Mitt Romney and the 2002 Campaign for Governor

In 2002, Republican Lieutenant Governor Jane Swift, who had served as acting governor since the resignation of Republican Governor Paul Cellucci, was expected to run for the corner office. Swift was viewed as an unpopular executive, and her administration was plagued by political missteps and personal scandals. As a result, many Republicans viewed her as a liability who would be unable to win a general election against a Democrat. The state GOP needed a strong candidiate to help them retain the corner office, and prominent party activists launched a campaign to persuade Mitt Romney to run for governor. One poll taken at this time showed that Republicans favored Romney over Swift by a margin of more than 50 percentage points. With growing speculation that Romney would challenge Swift in what would be a bruising primary battle, Swift decided not to seek her party's nomination.

During the general election Romney ran on a reform platform, as a major issue in the election was a serious state budget crisis. Supporters of Romney hailed his business record, especially his success with the 2002 Olympics, as that of one who would be able to bring in a new era of efficiency into Massachusetts politics.

His critics cited his lack of government experience and claimed that he was ineligible to run for governor, citing issues regarding residency. The state Constitution requires seven consecutive years of residency before a run, and Romney claimed residency in Utah as recently as 2000. Romney filed taxes as a resident of Utah, and received $54,000 in tax breaks for having his "primary residence" therecitation needed. In 1999 he listed himself as a part-time Massachusetts resident.

State Democrats filed a complaint with the Massachusetts State Ballot Law Commission. The commission (consisting of three Republicans, one Democrat and one independent) eventually ruled that Romney was eligible to run for office. The Democratic Party decided not to challenge the ruling in court.

Romney was elected Governor in November 2002 over Democrat Shannon O'Brien, Green-Rainbow Party candidate Jill Stein, Libertarian Carla Howell and independent candidate Barbara Johnson (50%, 45%, 4%, 1%, 0.7% respectively).