Mass. Gov. Charlie Baker, a Republican who tangled with Trump, won't seek re-election
Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker, a Republican who had resisted his party's pull toward Donald Trump, announced Wednesday that he won't see re-election to a third term.
The decision was first reported by The Boston Globe.
In a statement, Baker and Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito cited the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic as a factor in not running again in 2022.
"We have a great deal of work to do to put the pandemic behind us, keep our kids in school, and keep our communities and economy moving forward," Baker and Polito wrote. "That work cannot and should not be about politics and the next election. If we were to run, it would be a distraction that would potentially get in the way of many of the things we should be working on for everyone in Massachusetts. We want to focus on recovery, not on the grudge matches political campaigns can devolve into."
Baker was among a crop of moderate Republican governors from Northeastern states — including Larry Hogan in Maryland, Phil Scott in Vermont and Chris Sununu in New Hampshire — who emerged as critics of Trump's presidency.Baker, for example, said he “blanked” his 2020 ballot rather than vote for the then-president’s bid for a second term. Trump has endorsed Geoff Diehl, a co-chair of his Massachusetts campaign in 2016 and the losing Senate candidate against Democratic incumbent Elizabeth Warren in 2018, in the 2022 GOP primary for governor.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/elections/mass-gov-charlie-baker-republican-who-tangled-trump-won-t-n1285155
= new reply since forum marked as read
