New England’s Republican Governors Dodge Trump Train
They might be Republicans, but the governors of Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont are taking pains to avoid association with President Trump.
Vermont Gov. Phil Scott has never been a fan of the president. In 2016 he cast a write-in vote for former Vermont Gov. Jim Douglas, six months after declaring “I cannot vote for Donald Trump.” Last week he announced he was still “quite adamant” in opposing the GOP standard-bearer and said he was considering voting for Democrat Joe Biden instead.
Next door, New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu this week cited the COVID-19 crisis in making clear that he “likely” would not be present when the president stages a rally in his state tomorrow, immediately after the conclusion of this week’s Republican National Convention.
Governors Phil Scott, Charlie Baker and Chris Sununu.
As governor, “I’ll always be there to greet the president,” said Sununu, the state’s Republican governor. But, he added, “I am not planning on going to the rally. I don’t know how big it is, but my guess is it’s going to be a lot of people – and when I can, I try to avoid large crowds, to be honest.”
He stressed, too, that he had “made clear” to the Trump campaign that in New Hampshire masks are mandated at events of more than 100 people.
Meanwhile, when Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker was asked why he was not at the GOP convention, he replied simply that he was not invited. On Thursday he endorsed Democratic U.S. Rep. Richard Neal, who is facing a primary challenge from a young progressive mayor, Holyoke’s Alex Morse. It was also revealed this week that a PAC closely associated with the governor spent nearly $94,000 to help 17 candidates in the state’s Sept. 1 primaries. Of those, 13 are Democrats.
Asked if he still considered himself a Republican, Baker claimed allegiance to the “pragmatic and practical” part of the GOP. “One of my biggest problems with Washington,” he said, was that too many people there “spend most of their time trying to convince you about who they’re against and who their enemies are. I wish they’d spend a lot more time worrying about the fact that they represent all of the people of the U.S.”