>
The GOP candidate backed by Donald Trump has won the party’s nomination in the Massachusetts governor’s race, defeating an opponent who was considered the more moderate candidate.
Geoff Diehl, a former state representative whom Trump praised as wielding an ‘iron fist,’ defeated businessman Chris Doughty in Tuesday’s primary election in the latest high-profile victory for a Trump loyalist.
Massachusetts leans strongly left, but currently has a moderate Republican governor, Charlie Baker, a fierce Trump critic who won his last election by a landslide but declined to seek re-election this time amid fears of a primary challenge.
Diehl’s victory sets up a general election contest against Democratic Attorney General Maura Healey, who would be the first openly gay person and the first woman elected governor of Massachusetts if she wins in November.
Geoff Diehl, a former state representative whom Trump praised as wielding an ‘iron fist’, won the GOP nomination in the Massachusetts governor’s race on Tuesday
Diehl defeated businessman Chris Doughty (above) in Tuesday’s primary election in the latest high-profile victory for a Trump loyalist
Republican voters made Massachusetts the latest blue state this midterm season to nominate a Trump loyalist in a high-profile race, imperiling the party’s chances of winning in the general.
Primary voters in Connecticut and Maryland, liberal states where centrist Republicans have found some success in previous elections, also selected Trump-backed candidates to go up against a Democrat in the general election.
Trump had vigorously endorsed Diehl, who has embraced the former president’s unproven claims that the 2020 presidential election was rigged.
On Monday, Trump told supporters at a telerally that Diehl would ‘rule your state with an iron fist.’
Diehl told supporters on Tuesday evening: ‘We’re going to run a campaign that is focused specifically on ‘We the people’ – our freedoms, our rights and our prosperity.’
‘Massachusetts is no longer the place where people flock to in order for the protection of their freedoms and to build a better life for their families. Now it’s a place people are leaving.’
Diehl’s victory sets up a general election contest against Democratic Attorney General Maura Healey (above), who would be the first openly gay person and the first woman elected governor of Massachusetts if she wins in November
In a statement to DailyMail.com, Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel voiced support for Diehl, saying: ‘Congratulations to Geoff Diehl and all of our Republican nominees on their victories tonight in Massachusetts.’
‘Republicans in Massachusetts are ready to clean up Democrats’ mess and put a stop to Joe Biden’s failed agenda,’ she added.
Healey, whose only rival for the nomination dropped out of the race but remained on the ballot, will be the heavy favorite in November against Diehl in one of the most liberal states in the nation.
At her victory party Tuesday night before the GOP race was called for Diehl, the Democratic nominee Healey told cheering supporters that regardless of which candidate emerged as her opponent, ‘We know he´ll be out of touch with the values we stand for.’
Speaking of both candidates, she added, ‘They´ll bring Trumpism to Massachusetts.’
Diehl, the favorite among state Republican Party delegates, has ties to Trump stretching to 2016, when he served as co-chair for Trump’s presidential campaign in Massachusetts.
Massachusetts Republican gubernatorial candidate Geoff Diehl embraces a supporter at his primary night victory party Tuesday in Weymouth, Massachusetts
Corey Lewandowski, senior campaign advisor to Massachusetts Republican gubernatorial candidate Geoff Diehl, speaks to a reporter at a primary night event on Tuesday
Doughty said he supported some of Trump’s initiatives but wanted to focus on challenges facing Massachusetts, which he said is increasingly unaffordable.
Diehl has come to embrace Trump’s unfounded claims that he won the 2020 election.
Diehl said last year that he didn’t think it was a ‘stolen election’ but later said the election was rigged, despite dozens of courts, local officials and Trump’s own attorney general saying the vote was legitimate.
His GOP primary opponent Doughty, meanwhile, has said he believes President Joe Biden was legitimately elected.
The challenge for Diehl in the general election is that support of Trump may play well among the party’s conservative wing, but could be a political albatross in a state where registered Republicans make up less than 10 percent of the electorate compared to about 31 percent for Democrats and about 57 percent for independents.
Diehl faced a similar struggle when he challenged Democratic U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren in 2018. He won a three-way Republican primary only to capture just over a third of the vote in the general election.
Massachusetts has a history of electing fiscally conservative, socially moderate Republican governors – including former Governors William Weld and Mitt Romney – to provide a check on overwhelming Democratic legislative majorities.
Massachusetts leans strongly left, but currently has a moderate Republican governor, Charlie Baker (above), a fierce Trump critic who won his last election by a landslide
Baker, another Republican in that mold, has remained highly popular in the state.
Healey has said she would work to expand job training programs, make child care more affordable and modernize schools.
Healey has also said she would protect ‘access to safe and legal abortion in Massachusetts’ in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade.
But Healey does face an oddball hurdle in Massachusetts – the so-called curse of the attorney general. Since 1958, six former Massachusetts attorneys general have sought the governor’s office. All failed.
The state has previously had a female governor, though she was appointed to the position.
Republican Jane Swift served as acting governor after Governor Paul Cellucci stepped down in 2001 to become U.S. ambassador to Canada.
Tuesday’s election also featured several statewide contested Democratic primaries, including for attorney general and secretary of the commonwealth.
Former Boston City Councilor Andrea Campbell defeated workers’ rights attorney Shannon Liss-Riordan in the Democratic primary for attorney general.
A week before the election, a third candidate, former assistant attorney general Quentin Palfrey, announced he was suspending his campaign and endorsed Campbell; he remained on the ballot.
Campbell would be the first black woman to hold the office in Massachusetts if elected in November. She will face Republican Jay McMahon, a trial attorney who previously ran against Healey and lost.
Liss-Riordan pumped millions of her own money into her campaign – including $6.3 million in August alone. Healey earned an annual salary of more than $185,000 as attorney general.
Incumbent Democratic Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin, who is vying for an eighth term in office, defeated fellow Democrat Tanisha Sullivan, president of the Boston branch of the NAACP.
Galvin will face Republican Rayla Campbell in November. Campbell would be the first Black person to serve in the post if elected.
In the Democratic three-way race for lieutenant governor, Salem Mayor Kim Driscoll defeated state Rep. Tami Gouveia of Acton and state Sen. Eric Lesser of Longmeadow.
In the Democratic primary for state auditor, state Senator Diana DiZoglio defeated transportation advocate Chris Dempsey for the chance to succeed Suzanne Bump, a Democrat who opted not to seek reelection. DiZoglio will face Republican Anthony Amore in November.
There are also contested races in the Democratic primary for auditor and in the Republican races for lieutenant governor.
None of the state’s nine incumbent Democratic U.S. House members is facing primary challengers. There were two contested Republican primaries in the 8th and 9th congressional districts.