BOSTON -- Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey faces no challengers on the Republican ticket in the primary, but her challenge is to emerge from the shadow of Gov. Mitt Romney.

NewsCenter 5's Jim Morelli reported that Healey said she's mapped out her own course.

Most voters seem to know that Healey is a woman of wealth, but she was quick to point out things were not always easy.

"My mom was a public school teacher, and my dad was in the military and later worked as a real estate broker. We had periods of unemployment in our family. We had periods when my dad was disabled and could never work again. After I was 15 years old, he had a serious heart attack. I worked from the time I was 15. My husband and I started with nothing. We had school debt. We didn't have any money to start out with, but we had our education. We had the love of our family, and we knew we would be able to work hard," Healey said.

Between campaign stops, Healey explained her ideas to guide Bay State residents toward prosperity. The ideas center around reform and repelling taxes.

"I have a plan that I put forward to combine all the local pension funds, and there are 104 of them, into the state pension fund and save municipalities $200 million a year. On a personal level, rolling back taxes to 5 percent is something that would put more money in every single family's pocket. That's money that they can spend on whatever they need. Each family is different. I think when you lower taxes, you give people flexibility. You make everything more affordable when you decrease taxes," Healey said.

Healey also advocates suspending the gasoline tax on a temporary basis.

"What I had intended to do would be to use our surplus monies in order to replace that. Obviously, maintaining our roads and bridges is extremely important," Healey said.

Massachusetts voters have been electing Republicans for governor for 16 years.

"They know what happened in the 1980s when each branch of the Legislature and the governor were all of the same party. There was no break on spending, and the economy went into ruins," Healey said.