She has positioned herself as the firebrand reformer of Beacon Hill, and could be ready to challenge incumbent Gov. Maura Healey next year – setting up a titanic battle of top Democrats.

It’s an open secret that supporters of State Auditor Diana DiZoglio are urging her to run for governor in 2026, so she might as well own it and take the plunge now.

It’s not too early for DiZoglio to start raising funds and announce her intention to take on a weakened Healey for the soul of the Democratic Party. Healey seems preoccupied with being a national progressive leader and seems primed for a surprise challenge from within Massachusetts and her own party.

DiZoglio should now shift the spotlight from the Legislature, where she’s been waging a losing battle to audit lawmakers, to the Corner Office and Healey’s seat.

DiZoglio would be the anti-Healey, a feisty liberal populist who has already won the hearts and minds of voters, who overwhelmingly backed her bid to audit the Legislature. But the weak Massachusetts courts will never allow DiZoglio to complete her audit.

Still, it would be a winning issue for the first term auditor. Healey has sadly been a pushover to House and Senate Democrats, rarely challenging them on fiscal issues or hot button topics like the migrant crisis.

The Democratic governor’s initial failure to get control of the migrants streaming into the sanctuary state led to a spiraling budget crisis that is still costing the state’s taxpayers billions.

Another issue DiZoglio could exploit is the lack of transparency by the Healey administration, which has been dragging its feet on releasing documents and emails on controversial topics like migrant shelter spending.

DiZoglio would come into the governor’s race already battle tested. Lawmakers and the media have been trying to lob lame grenades at her for the last two years, but they’ve all fizzled.

There is some precedent for a DiZoglio campaign for governor. Democratic primary challenges of incumbent governors are not unheard of in Massachusetts.

In 1964, then-Lt. Gov. Frank Bellotti defeated incumbent Gov. Endicott Peabody in the Democratic primary. Bellotti did lose the general election to Republican John Volpe.

Democrat Ed King, running as a fiscal and social conservative, knocked off incumbent Democratic Gov. Michael Dukakis in 1978.

Dukakis later took back the governor’s seat from King in 1982 and won again in 1986 before winning the Democratic nomination for president of the United States in 1988.

A DiZoglio-Healey match would be reminiscent of the old Dukakis-King fights, pitting a reformer against a politically damaged Democratic incumbent.

Whoever wins the 2026 Democratic primary would still have to face a Republican in the general election, but would likely be a heavy favorite.

If DiZoglio could somehow knock off Healey, she would be a giant killer who would go into the November election with a huge head of steam.

And as governor, she would wield power that her nemesis, Senate President Karen Spilka, could only wish for.