News Roundup: Former Gov. Deval Patrick Endorses Yes on 6
MassLive, 10/13/26, Deval Patrick gets back to his roots in Mass. ballot fight | Campaign Notes
Former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick is heeding nature’s call — or at least the call of a November ballot question that would use sales tax revenue to pay for a new land and water conservation fund.
The former Democratic governor, who’s living his best life in the very woodsy Berkshires, has endorsed the “YES on 6″ ballot campaign, joining a clutch of Bay State elected officials who are supporting it.
“Massachusetts is blessed with incredible natural resources, and Question 6 gives us the opportunity to protect them for future generations,” Patrick said in a statement. “I’ll be voting YES on Question 6 on November 3 to safeguard clean drinking water and protect our forests, farms, and wildlife habitat.”
If you’re just tuning in, the fund would tap existing state sales tax revenue on the sale of sporting goods and would not require any new taxes, MassLive has previously reported.
Question 6, the Protect Water and Nature ballot initiative on the November statewide ballot, would create a new Nature for All Fund and dedicate funds from the existing state sales tax on sporting goods to protecting and conserving water and nature — without raising taxes.
With the endorsement, Patrick joins Gov. Maura Healey, former White House National Climate Advisor Gina McCarthy and author Bill McKibben, as well as a broad coalition of more than 125 organizations led by the state’s leading nonprofit land and water conservation groups, organizers said in a statement.
They include Mass Audubon, The Trustees, Appalachian Mountain Club, the Conservation Law Foundation, Massachusetts Rivers Alliance, The Nature Conservancy, and Trust for Public Land.
Earlier this month, the YES on 6 campaign started airing advertisements in support of their cause on television and digital outlets across the state.
Boston Globe, 10/13/26, The Scrum: Second Nature
SECOND NATURE: Speaking of former governors playing in this year’s ballot question battles, former governor Deval Patrick is endorsing the “Yes on 6” campaign pushing the proposal that would funnel a portion of the state’s sales taxes toward a new conservation fund.
Patrick plans to vote “yes” on Question 6 “to safeguard clean drinking water and protect our forests, farms, and wildlife habitat,” he said in a statement shared by the campaign.
MASSterlist, 10/13/26, Heard Around Town
…Bubble in another "yes" on former Gov. Deval Patrick's ballot. Patrick is endorsing the Yes on 6 campaign that aims to create a dedicated fund for nature conservation using some money from the sales tax on sporting goods. "Massachusetts is blessed with incredible natural resources, and Question 6 gives us the opportunity to protect them for future generations,” Patrick said in a statement from the campaign. Patrick this cycle has also announced support for Question 3, which would replace the state's party primaries with a top-two system…