Trump-Endorsed Diehl wins Mass. GOP Governor Primary

Facts

• Trump-endorsed Geoff Diehl has won the Republican gubernatorial nomination in Massachusetts over the moderate, Chris Doughty.
• With the state’s current Republican governor, Charlie Baker, deciding against seeking a third term, Diehl will face Democrat and current Mass. Attorney General Maura Healey in November.
• Diehl has, over time, come to promote Trump’s unfounded claims that the 2020 presidential election was rigged. Doughty, meanwhile, has stated that Pres. Biden was legitimately elected.
• In Mass., registered Republicans make up 10% of the voter base, while Democrats comprise 31% and independents 57%. Healey would become the first openly LGBTQ candidate and the first woman to be elected to the state’s top office if she wins.
• Trump lost the state in 2020 with 32% of the vote compared to Biden’s 66%. Recent polling from July found Healey up 54% to Diehl’s 23% in a hypothetical matchup.
• Elsewhere in Mass., long-tenured incumbent William Galvin won the Democrat primary for Secretary of State. He will face off against the deeply conservative GOP candidate, Rayla Campbell, in November.

Sources: PBS NewsHour, NBC, USA Today, Politico, and WBUR.

Narratives

• Pro-Trump narrative, as provided by FOX News. Despite the uphill battle Diehl faces in liberal Massachusetts, Trump’s power is on full display. The former president remains the most popular and influential politician in the GOP and has been on a roll with gubernatorial and party primaries this summer.
• Democratic narrative, as provided by Newsweek. The nomination of Diehl is a gift for Democrats. Although popular with far-right GOP activists, Diehl’s anti-abortion stance and his unsubstantiated claims around the 2020 election are simply a non-starter in Massachusetts.