MEDFORD, Mass., Sept. 16 (UPI) -- State Attorney General Martha Coakley announced Monday she is running for the Democratic nomination for governor of Massachusetts.
Coakley greeted supporters at Dempsey's Breakfast & Lunch restaurant in Medford, where she launched her campaign, The Boston Globe reported.
"I think that I am ready to both lead and listen to people in Massachusetts about what they want. I know they want to continue moving the economy forward, giving people economic opportunity, improving our educational system," Coakley said. "I'm going to do that as governor."
The candidate said she has learned a lot from her unsuccessful bid in the 2010 U.S. Senate special election.
"Look, we've acknowledged, I've acknowledged, that we made mistakes on that campaign trail and I've learned from that," Coakley said. "I got right back to work in the AG's office; I got right back out shaking hands and meeting people in order to run for attorney general."
Before meeting with voters, Coakley released a 2-minute video online, which also announced her candidacy.
"You know, a lot of folks say politics is tough and it can be," Coakley says in the video. "I know what it's like to lose a race. I know how hard that is. But you know what, it's nothing compared to what so many people go through every day in their lives."
State Treasurer Steven Grossman, former Boston Globe op-ed columnist and homeland security official Juliette Kayyem, former Obama administration healthcare official Donald M. Berwick, and biotechnology executive Joseph Avellone have also announced their candidacies in the gubernatorial race.
