Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker, among a disappearing breed of moderate Republicans elected as the chief executive in New England, won't seek a third term in 2022.
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His lieutenant governor, Karyn Polito, who had amassed more than $2 million in campaign funds, bowed out. The pair said that running would have been a distraction from continuing to manage the Covid-19 Pandemic. Their work cannot and should not be about politics and the next election, they said. Baker, 65, and Polito, 55, said Wednesday that they want to focus on recovery, not on the grudge matches political campaigns can devolve into.
The announcement came as a surprise to many political observers as well as Baker's only declared rival on the Republican side, former state representative Geoff Diehl, who did not immediately comment on the news.
Diehl ran a successful ballot-question campaign to repeal the Massachusetts gas-tax index law in 2014. He was also the state chairman of the 2016 election effort of President Donald Trump.
On the Democratic side are former state senator Ben Downing, Harvard professor Danielle Allen and state senator Sonia Chang-Diaz.
Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey, who has collected $3.3 million in campaign funds, has yet to declare. She is scheduled to appear on Balance of Power, a Bloomberg television program. Baker is one of many Republican governors who are leading Democratic-leaning states. Maryland's Larry Hogan and Vermont's Phil Scott have high approval.
For most of Baker's two terms, his approval numbers remained high, often outdoing well-known Democrats in the state, including the U.S. He appeared at several fundraisers in his name, fuelling speculation that he would run again.
Although the Massachusetts Legislature is controlled by Democrats, moderate Republicans like Baker and former governors Bill Weld and Frank Sargent have been able to win over voters for the governor's office.
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