WORCESTER — Mike Minogue, the political outsider and former biotech executive, steamrolled the Republican field for governor at the MassGOP State Convention on Saturday, winning the party's endorsement with 70.38% of the 1,793 votes cast at the DCU Center while Brian Shortsleeve cleared the 15% qualifying threshold at 15.5% to make the September primary ballot. Mike Kennealy, the field's only Beacon Hill insider and former Baker administration cabinet secretary, fell less than a single point short of qualifying.

Anne Brensley, a Wayland selectwoman born in Honduras, took the Lieutenant Governor endorsement with more than 55% of the vote and in doing so became the first Latina in Massachusetts history to win a major-party statewide endorsement. She still has a contested September primary on her hands against Anne Manning-Martin and Shawn Oliver, both of whom cleared the 15% threshold and qualified for the ballot.

The party also unanimously nominated John Deaton for U.S. Senate. Deaton, a Marine Corps veteran and businessman with no primary challenger, took the stage to the Rocky theme and threw the first punch of the general election. "This race is about people over politics," he told the convention, taking direct aim at career politician Ed Markey, who has held a seat in Congress since 1976. Elizabeth Dionne and Michael Walsh, the party's nominees for Treasurer and Attorney General, also delivered well-received speeches in their own slots, completing the Republican statewide slate.

Earlier in the day, Babylon Bee CEO Seth Dillon delivered the convention's keynote, and Mike Urban, host of The Mike Urban Show, drew a strong reception from delegates as well.

In a statement Saturday night, Shortsleeve called his result "exactly what we came here to do" and said he was "looking forward to a head-to-head race" against Minogue in the September primary, while MassGOP Chairwoman Amy Carnevale, for her part, called the day a reflection of "the strong will of Massachusetts Republicans" and described the Minogue–Brensley ticket as "a bold vision that will deliver results for every corner of the Commonwealth."

Pre-convention emails from the MassGOP had told delegates — who paid $200 each to attend — that the day would wrap by 4:30 p.m., but the convention instead ran roughly twelve hours, with the Lieutenant Governor balloting alone consuming several hours and the gubernatorial nominations, speeches, and votes not getting underway until after 8 p.m. An estimated 400 delegates had left the DCU Center before the gubernatorial vote was even called, and a number have publicly demanded refunds of their convention fees in the hours since.