Gov. Charlie Baker of Massachusetts Says He Won’t Run for Re-election

Politics|Gov. Charlie Baker of Massachusetts Says He Won’t Run for Re-election

Gov. Charlie Baker of Massachusetts, a mean Republican who defied erstwhile President Donald J. Trump during his 2 terms, announced connected Wednesday that helium would not question re-election adjacent year.

“After respective months of treatment with our families, we person decided not to question re-election successful 2022,” Mr. Baker and his lieutenant governor, Karyn Polito, wrote successful a missive to supporters.

Mr. Baker, 65, who is much fashionable successful polling among Democrats and autarkic voters than helium is among chap Republicans, confronted a Trump-backed superior situation and a wide predetermination successful which helium could person faced the state’s fashionable lawyer general, Maura Healey, a Democrat.

A erstwhile wellness attraction executive, Mr. Baker is simply a popular, even-keeled, nonideological New England Republican who has been a proponent of termination rights, same-sex matrimony and immoderate weapon power measures. He would person been the favourite had helium decided to run. But helium was besides a relic of the pre-Trump Republican Party that present exists mostly successful tv greenish rooms and Washington deliberation tanks.

Mr. Baker, on with Govs. Phil Scott of Vermont and Larry Hogan of Maryland, made up a cadre of northeastern Republicans who ran Democratic states during the Trump era. But portion Mr. Hogan has toyed with moving for nationalist bureau arsenic an anti-Trump Republican, Mr. Baker avoided commenting connected Mr. Trump and seldom appeared connected cablegram television.

He made nary notation to Mr. Trump successful the missive announcing his determination not to tally again. But helium did caution that a hard re-election run would distract from the state’s efforts to combat the coronavirus pandemic.

“We privation to absorption connected recovery, not connected the grudge matches governmental campaigns tin devolve into,” helium wrote.

Mr. Baker’s departure from the contention volition marque it a high-profile contention betwixt antithetic branches of the Democratic Party, astir apt pitting Ms. Healey, of the establishment’s halfway left, against the progressives Sonia Chang-Díaz, a authorities senator, and Ben Downing, a erstwhile authorities senator.

Ms. Healey has yet to denote her candidacy but has said she would see the race. Ms. Chang-Díaz and Mr. Downing person been campaigning for months.

Mr. Baker faced a hard Republican superior situation from Geoff Diehl, a erstwhile authorities typical who was president of Mr. Trump’s 2016 run successful Massachusetts. Mr. Trump endorsed Mr. Diehl successful October portion denouncing Mr. Baker arsenic a “Republican successful sanction only.”

Mr. Diehl is acold little apt than Mr. Baker to clasp the Massachusetts governor’s bureau for Republicans. Mr. Trump is highly unpopular successful the state, which backed Joseph R. Biden Jr. by 33 percent points successful 2020.

Ellen Barry contributed reporting.