A new Trump endorsement could turn a seat blue: political analyst

On Tuesday, former President Donald Trump endorsed Geoff Diehl, a far-right former Senate candidate, to challenge incumbent Republican Gov. Charlie Baker of Massachusetts.

Baker, wrote Trump "has done nothing for the Republican Party and has driven Massachusetts energy costs into, by far the highest in the nation ... Baker is bad on crime, disrespects our police, does nothing for our Veterans, has totally botched the Vaccination rollout, presided over the collapse of the MBTA, and has seen crime go to record levels."

It's a development, noted Cook Political Report analyst Jessica Taylor, that could shake up what was previously considered to be an uncompetitive race — and comes weeks after Trump also attacked Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp for not helping him overturn the election results in his state.

Despite being a comfortably blue state, Massachusetts frequently elects Republican governors. In fact, in the last 20 years, five out of the six Massachusetts governors who served in that period were Republicans, some of whom staked out reputations as moderate dealmakers. Baker is one such Republican — in some polls in the last few years, he actually scored higher with Democratic voters than Republicans.

Baker has also been a frequent critic of Trump, and refused to endorse him in 2020, which has pushed the president to dream of replacing him with a loyal ally — but in a state that elected Biden by 33 points, that might jeopardize the GOP's position altogether.