The three Republican candidates for Massachusetts governor are battling it out over whether MIke Minogue “bought” 20 super delegates ahead of April’s MassGOP Convention after his campaign sent $100,000 to the party as part of a “Chairwoman’s delegate challenge” to raise funds for the cash-strapped state Republican party.

The Kennealy and Shortsleeve campaigns argue that Minogue’s move breaks from the traditional practice of having super delegates pay their own convention fees, saying that instead of bringing in the money from new, individual donors who paid themselves, that Minogue’s campaign simply paid the $100,000 to buy the super delegates.

The Minogue campaign says he is supporting the party in a way that the Shortsleeve and Kennealy had the same opportunity to do, but were not capable of. The campaign says Minogue was the only one of the three candidates to oppose super delegates.

“This is desperate political theater from campaigns that are getting out-raised, out-organized, and outworked. While they’re grasping for relevance, Mike Minogue has built a movement. The fact is that the Minogue campaign was the only one that opposed super delegates in the Rules Committee, while the Shortsleeve and Kennealy campaigns advocated aggressively for them. Now they are sadly lying because they couldn’t afford to participate,” Minogue for Governor Convention Director John Milligan told the Herald in a written statement.

“Instead of joining Minogue in supporting the Party, they pushed for extensions and lower fees. Even with those accommodations, they still couldn’t get it done. Mike conceded to the rules and invested in the Party. He looks forward to defeating Maura Healey in November,” he said.

According to the Office of Campaign and Political Finance (OCPF), the Minogue campaign paid MassGOP $100,000 on Jan. 23. for convention fees.

Emails obtained by the Herald show this was after the state party offered the three candidates a “December challenge,” where each campaign can earn a “transferable at-large delegate slot” for every $10,000 donor sent to the party. The challenge allowed  the campaigns to earn up to 20 super delegates each.

“The Chair has launched a December challenge: ‘For every $10,000 donor you send our way, I’m offering a transferable at-large delegate slot to the April 25, 2026 Massachusetts Republican Nominating Convention,’” said a Dec. 2 email sent by MassGOP Executive Director Haley Jones to the three campaigns.

In a subsequent offer to the three candidates, MassGOP then lowered the amount each new donor would need to contribute to earn a super delegate, to $5,000. MassGOP defines a “new donor” as one who has not donated to the party ever or since or before 2016.

“To accelerate our momentum heading into the new year, the MassGOP is lowering the donor threshold to earn a transferable super delegate to increments of $5,000.  A donor who contributes $5,000 would earn your campaign one transferable delegate, while a donor who contributes the maximum of $15,000 to the MassGOP would earn your campaign a total of three transferable delegates,” a follow up email from Jones on Dec. 30 read, also informing the campaigns the challenge had been extended to Jan. 7.

Jones sent a third email on Jan. 12 announcing a final challenge extension to Jan. 23.

Minogue made his $100,000 donation to the party on Jan. 23, labeling the expense as “convention fees.” OCPF records show Minogue had already paid $50,000 for convention fees on Dec. 8, labeling that expenditure as “ballot access fees.” Minogue’s payment was made in accordance with MassGOP 2026 convention rules.

On Feb. 11, MassGOP issued a press release, thanking Minogue for his “generous investment in our shared mission to take back the Governor’s Office in November.”

“Identical partnership opportunities were offered to each gubernatorial campaign as part of a broader effort to strengthen party fundraising and help build the foundation for victory,” the release said.

But Mike Kennealy’s campaign says that press release is not entirely truthful, calling Minogue’s $100,000 donation “nothing more than a payment to purchase delegates.”

“What is conveniently left out of that release is the truth: the money claimed to have been ‘donated’ to the party was nothing more than a payment to purchase delegates. It’s clear that the caucus strategy the Minogue campaign keeps bragging about isn’t working,” Kennealy Communications Director Logan Trupiano told the Herald. “If it were really working, he wouldn’t need to buy support. Elections can’t be bought.”

Brian Shortsleeve is pointing out the irony in a state Republican party claiming to stand for integrity and fair elections is “selling delegates to the highest bidder.”

“It’s unfortunate that the party that stands for election integrity is selling delegates to the highest bidder.  The convention should be about giving grassroots activists a bigger voice in the process, not rich people who refuse to debate and think they can buy the nomination,” Shortsleeve said.

MassGOP decided to reduce the number of super delegates for the 2026 convention from the traditional 300 to just 75 super delegates, ridding the party of the 150 chairman’s delegates making up the “Convention Finance Committee.” Party Chairwoman Amy

MassGOP Chair Amy Carnevale (Libby O’Neill/Boston Herald, File)

, per 2026 convention rules, will have a total of 75 super delegates she can distribute at her discretion.

In order to move on to the September primary election, candidates for statewide office must collect votes from a minimum of 15% of the delegates attending the convention.  The party estimates thousands of delegates in total will attend the convention in April. Super delegates are appointed, while other delegates are elected by individual Republican Town Committees.

MassGOP referred the Herald to its Feb. 11 press release when asked for comment.