Mike Minogue, a West Point graduate, Bronze Star recipient, and former chief executive officer of a publicly traded medical device company, is running for governor of Massachusetts as a Republican.

"I’m running to be a new kind of governor, one with the faith, the heart, and the grit to serve," Minogue said in a video announcing his candidacy on Wednesday.

The 58-year-old South Hamilton resident, who grew up in Massachusetts, served as an Airborne Ranger during Operation Desert Storm in 1991. He was awarded a Bronze Star for his service in the Gulf War. After leaving the Army, he returned home and went on to lead Abiomed, a company that developed the world’s smallest heart pumps. He served as chief executive officer of the Danvers-based firm for 19 years.

Minogue and his wife, Renee, live in Massachusetts with their five children. He said his background shows he has spent his life solving problems.

"I’ve spent my life running towards problems and fixing them, to make a big difference," Minogue said.

The campaign told Fox News his agenda focuses on restoring affordability, accountability, and opportunity in Massachusetts. He supports lowering taxes to give families more take-home pay, retaining and recruiting businesses to grow the state’s economy, and expanding educational opportunities while increasing parental options in schooling.

"Working people have been left behind," Minogue said. "Massachusetts’s current one-party system isn’t working. What we need is a new kind of public servant."

Minogue enters a Republican primary that already includes Lexington resident Mike Kennealy, who served as Massachusetts secretary of housing and economic development under former governor Charlie Baker, and Barnstable resident Brian Shortsleeve, a former acting general manager of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority and former chief administrator of the transit agency.

Massachusetts Republican Party chairman Amy Carnevale welcomed the news of Minogue jumping into the race.

“We are thrilled to welcome Michael Minogue into the race for governor," she said in a press release emailed to NewBostonPost. "His entrance gives Massachusetts voters yet another alternative to the failing policies and faltering economy of the Healey administration and one-party rule. Republicans are positioned to deliver what matters most to voters: a state government they can trust, one that priorities their families and not those in power.”

On the Democratic side, Governor Maura Healey is seeking re-election.

Healey defeated Republican Geoff Diehl, a former state representative from Whitman, 63.7 percent to 34.6 percent in the 2022 gubernatorial election. Diehl had the endorsement of former President Donald Trump, who has never received more than 36 percent of the vote in a Massachusetts general election.

The Cook Political Report says Massachusetts is a solid Democratic state in the 2026 governor’s race; it puts the Commonwealth in the same category as the governor’s races in California and Hawaii.

Healey has a decent approval rating. A University of New Hampshire poll conducted in late September 2025 found that 51 percent of voters approved of her performance as governor, while 46 percent disapproved.

Although Democrats dominate the state legislature and win nearly every federal election in Massachusetts, Republicans have often found success in gubernatorial races. Before Healey’s victory in 2022, Republicans had won six of the previous eight elections for governor.

Republicans hope Minogue’s military and business background can appeal to voters beyond the party’s base.

"I’m running to be a governor who puts people first and fixes problems," Minogue said in his video. "That’s what I’ve always done, and that’s what I’ll do for Massachusetts."

The Minogue campaign and Healey campaigns could not be immediately reached for comment on Wednesday morning.