Waltham, MA – Today, Peabody City Councilor and 34-year law enforcement veteran Anne Manning Martin announced she is joining Mike Kennealy’s campaign as his running mate. Together, the Kennealy-Manning Martin ticket will restore integrity, accountability, and common sense to Beacon Hill.
With eight years of service on the Peabody School Committee, 19 years on the Peabody City Council, and three decades in law enforcement, Manning Martin has built a reputation as a tough, no-nonsense leader who refuses to back down. She has often been the lone voice for fiscal discipline, transparency, and common-sense governance – putting taxpayers first even when it wasn’t politically convenient.
Local officials are closest to the people and closest to the problems. Manning Martin has spent her career on the front lines – listening to constituents, enforcing the law, balancing budgets, and standing up to bureaucracy. She brings that same backbone and street-level accountability to the statewide ticket.
She is no stranger to a fight. When she was wrongfully demoted by the Deval Patrick Administration, she sued – and won. That fight cemented her reputation as someone who will stand her ground and win when principles are on the line.
Manning Martin has been a fierce advocate for local control, public safety, and fiscal responsibility. She now aims to bring that same disciplined, results-driven mindset to state government.
Anne Manning Martin released the following statement:
“I’ve spent my career in law enforcement and local government holding people accountable. I don’t back down, and I don’t look the other way. The people of Massachusetts deserve leaders who will fight for them – not protect a broken system.
Governor Healey’s policies have driven families and businesses out of our state, undermined local control, made our communities less safe, weaponized the MBTA Communities Act, and sent utility bills through the roof. Massachusetts is now losing jobs and residents because Beacon Hill has lost touch with reality.
Mike Kennealy and I are running to restore common sense, public safety, and fiscal discipline. We are ready to fight, and win, for the people of this Commonwealth.”
Mike Kennealy praised Manning Martin’s leadership:
“Anne Manning Martin is exactly the kind of partner Massachusetts needs. She’s tough. She’s battle-tested. And she doesn’t tolerate nonsense.
She has spent over 30 years protecting her community in law enforcement and 27 years defending taxpayers on the Peabody City Council and School Committee. She understands what Governor Healey’s failed policies are doing because she hears it directly from the people she serves.
Anne is a fiscal watchdog, a fierce advocate for local control, and a relentless defender of public safety. I’m proud to have her on this ticket, and I look forward to campaigning, and governing, alongside her in the Corner Office.”
The Kennealy-Manning Martin ticket will focus on restoring integrity, affordability, defending local control, and bringing disciplined, results-oriented leadership back to Massachusetts.
###
Anne’s Background:
Anne Manning Martin is a fifth-generation Peabody native, a no-nonsense City Councilor, and a nearly three-decade law enforcement professional. She joins the Kennealy ticket as candidate for Lieutenant Governor to fight for affordability, stand up for the middle class, and ensure Massachusetts remains a place where working families can thrive.
With 34 years of experience in law enforcement and criminal justice, Anne has built her career on keeping communities safe. She currently serves as Deputy Superintendent at the Department of Correction’s Lemuel Shattuck Hospital Unit.
A dedicated public servant, Anne brings 27 years of elected experience in Peabody—eight years on the School Committee and 19 years on the City Council. She’s built a reputation as the fiscal guardrail at City Hall, relentlessly defending taxpayers and living by her motto: “I spend taxpayer dollars the same way I spend my own—only when I have to.” Anne has consistently fought for local control, pushed back against state government overreach, and earned respect as a champion for veterans and hardworking families.
Anne’s toughness is rooted in her own life experience. Raised by a factory-worker mother and an elementary school principal father, Anne learned early the values of hard work, integrity, and service to others. After losing her mother at nine and her father in her 30s, she pushed forward, graduating from Saint Anselm College and earning a master’s degree in Criminal Justice from the University of Massachusetts. Inspired by her mother’s own stories of fighting for fair wages on the 1945–46 GE picket line in Lynn, Anne has carried that same fighting spirit throughout her life.
That resolve was most evident when she took on the administration of then-Governor Deval Patrick for discrimination and wrongful demotion after being diagnosed with cancer. When her job was stripped from her and handed to someone else with a 35% raise, Anne fought back – and won. It is the same grit she brings to public service and will bring to the Corner Office.
As a longtime city councilor, Anne Manning Martin knows what real accountability looks like. Unlike the political elite on Beacon Hill, she has never hidden from the people she serves. She shows up, she listens, and she answers directly to her constituents. There’s a reason voters keep sending her back: Anne is honest, hardworking, and grounded in the same common-sense values as the families she represents and is so desperately needed on Beacon Hill. Anne lives in Peabody with her husband Jack, a retired MBTA electrical engineer, and their rescued Staffordshire Bull Terrier.