Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker is a fan of Karyn Polito.
Although Baker won’t say whether or not he’ll seek a third term, he praised the lieutenant governor during a recent interview with CBS Boston’s Jon Keller.
Keller asked Baker if Polito was ready to be a successful candidate for governor. While Baker wouldn’t say if she plans to run for governor, he said she’d be a “terrific” candidate.
Baker said:
I have a tremendous amount of respect and admiration that the lieutenant governor’s done over the course of the past seven years. Let’s remember that she put together a re-opening program here in Massachusetts working with our colleagues in the public health and business communities. It was one of the places in this country where the economy re-opened. It never closed again. There were some adjustments along the way, but we never saw the bump up in cases that happened in so many other places after they re-opened. She’s also been, in many respects, the primary contact with the administration with local officials. And we’ve been able to solve a ton of problems together because of the trust that she’s developed with so many of those folks in local government. Again, who happen to be all kinds political persuasions. I think she’s, she’s a terrific ally, terrific asset, and she would be a terrific statewide candidate. Absolutely.
During the interview, which aired on Channel 4 in Boston on Sunday, September 5, Baker also said that he has still not decided whether or not he wants to seek a third term. However, if he were to seek a third term, he said that his top priority would be housing.
Baker is in his second term as governor of Massachusetts. Since the state implemented four-year terms for governor (as opposed to two-year terms) in 1967, most Massachusetts governors have not sought more than two terms. However, there are no term limits for governors in the state.
Former Massachusetts governor Michael Dukakis, a Democrat, served three terms, with a gap between the first and the second. He was first elected in 1974, but then he lost the 1978 primary to Ed King, a conservative. Dukakis then came back and edged out King in the 1982 primary. Dukakis went on to win that general election and won re-election in 1986.
While Baker hasn’t announced his intention for 2022 yet, he hasn’t stopped fund raising. He attended a campaign fund raiser in Mashpee on Cape Cod on Thursday, September 2.
So far, there are three declared Republican candidates in the race for governor in Massachusetts: former state representative Geoff Diehl (R-Whitman), former Lowell city council candidate Darius Mitchell, and Quincy resident Kimberly Duffy.
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