Charlie Baker, 65, sees himself ‘working for a long time’ with decision on 3rd term ‘getting pretty close’
At 65, Gov. Charlie Baker said he sees himself “working for a long time,” but he’s still letting nothing slip about whether those plans include a third term as Massachusetts governor.
In comments Monday, Baker said he’s “getting pretty close” to a decision.
“I’ve always said that I’m one of these people who’s going to want to be purposeful and productive as long as I can be purposeful and productive,” the Republican governor said during an appearance on GBH’s “Boston Public Radio,” noting, “I don’t have any hobbies.”
“I read books, that’s probably the only hobby I have. I don’t golf, I don’t boat, I don’t fish, I don’t do any of that stuff, and my wife would lose her mind if I didn’t have something useful to do. So I have a feeling I’m going to be hopefully working for a long time,” the governor continued.
Less than a year away from the 2022 general election, two heavyweights — Baker and Attorney General Maura Healey, a Democrat — remain undeclared. Former Whitman state Rep. Geoff Diehl, a Republican, and Democrats Danielle Allen, Sen. Sonia Chang-Diaz and Ben Downing, a former state senator, have already jumped into the gubernatorial race.
After pressing pause on fundraising throughout the first year of the pandemic, Baker resumed fundraisers this summer and has continued to hold them regularly since. He’s keeping up appearances too — holding events that routinely take him around the state. His next fundraiser, with Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito, is scheduled for Dec. 14 in Springfield.
Baker has in the past described his decision as a “very complicated” one and sources close to the governor say he is carefully weighing his options. The perennially popular governor has, for the most part, lived up to his Teflon reputation, weathering the pandemic with strong approval ratings, recent polls show.
“I don’t sit around and say to myself, ‘You know, can I win or not?’” Baker said during his GBH appearance on Monday. “To me the question always comes back to… do I have the will, the desire and the agenda that I believe would be in the state’s best interest, and the energy and the commitment to follow through and deliver on it?”
If he does win, he’ll likely face staunch competition from Diehl. The choice between Diehl, a Trump supporter, and Baker, a moderate who has frequently criticized the former president, is representative of a larger fissure facing the state Republican Party.
Still, Baker indicated he’s likely to run as a Republican should he choose to take the plunge for a third time. A recent poll from Northwind Strategies and Change Research found Baker, who is often at odds with the Trump-aligned MassGOP leadership, would earn favorability running as an independent.
from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/3xzCejV
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