Out with Baker, in with the new GOP
The old Massachusetts Republican Party, the wing of Bill Weld and Charlie Baker, has pretty much evaporated for a new, more red meat conservative party.
And when Baker leaves office next year for a lucrative private-sector job, he’ll be taking with him the last vestiges of the old party.
Bring on Donald Trump and Republicans like Geoff Diehl, because that right now is where the party stands.
Nearly 1.2 million Massachusetts voters stood with Trump in 2020, which amounts to about a third of the vote.
That’s clearly not enough to win elections, but maybe Massachusetts Republicans have had too much of Baker and his cautious, milquetoast style of governing. Baker and Karyn Polito only won the election by essentially being moderate Democrats in Republican clothing. It’s a weak brew.
Diehl is counting on a transformed party to win the 2022 gubernatorial nomination, and unless another prominent Republican like former U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling jumps in, Diehl will be the heavy favorite.
There’s a lot of talk about the fractured Republican Party, but voters don’t care about internal party dissension and disarray — they just want the party to stand for something. Only the insiders know who controversial party chairman Jim Lyons really is.
The Massachusetts version of the Grand Old Party hasn’t been taken seriously for decades and the watered-down version can’t get bills passed in the Legislature and has become the butt of jokes.
Diehl has the endorsement of Trump and wants to bring the former president to Massachusetts to campaign for him.
What a spectacle that would be — Trump in the middle of far-left Massachusetts, taking on Democrats like Elizabeth Warren and Michelle Wu and Marty Walsh — making them the poster children for liberal America.
Diehl would be better off with a Trump rally to stir up the party faithful more than a GOP convention endorsement.
And he needs Trump badly. Diehl’s fundraising has been less than impressive this year, raking in just $224,855, which is peanuts — not nearly a fast enough pace to become competitive in a governor’s race.
Diehl raised $3 million in his failed bid against Warren. Baker spent $16.5 million in his 2018 re-election campaign, and another $6 million through his super PAC.
Only Trump will be able to turbocharge Diehl’s campaign and draw in contributions from around the country, not just Massachusetts.
Diehl’s chances of winning the governor’s race are slim, so Republicans shouldn’t get worked up about keeping the Corner Office.
But armed with common sense, conservative positions on issues like crime, taxes and immigration, Republicans could rebuild the party enough to win some local elections and stop the hemorrhaging.