Geoff Diehl wins GOP nomination to face Elizabeth Warren

The race for U.S. Senate is set in Massachusetts.

Geoff Diehl, a Whitman state representative and supporter of President Donald Trump, won the Republican nomination on Tuesday, defeating Beth Lindstrom and John Kingston in the primary election.

He will go on to challenge incumbent Democratic U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, one of Trump’s biggest critics, in the general election scheduled for Nov. 6.

Diehl celebrated his victory with a crowd of about 100 supporters and volunteers at the VFW Post 697 in his hometown of Whitman. Many wore white T-shirts emblazoned with the candidate’s campaign slogan, “The Real Diehl.”

“I’m going to work hard for you every day,” he said to a jubilant crowd. “I’m just like you. I’m a guy from Whitman that gets up every day to do his best.”

Warren, who ran unopposed in the Democratic Party, said in a statement she was honored to be the nominee.

“This campaign has never been just about me – it’s been about all of us fighting to level the playing field for working people. I will fight my heart out, and I hope you will too,” she said.

Diehl, first elected to represent the 7th Plymouth District in the state House of Representatives in 2010, has run on a platform to oppose tax increases, increase jobs and defeat Warren in the general election.

He and his fellow Republican candidates, Lindstrom and Kingston, spent much of the campaign cycle attacking Warren rather than each other.

With 43 percent of precincts reporting, Kingston, a Harvard Law School graduate who spent about 16 years working at AMG, a publicly traded global equity firm, trailed Diehl by about 27 points.

Lindstrom, who was secretary of Consumer Affairs for the Romney Administration, trailed by about 36 points. Kingston and Lindstrom did not immediate respond to a request for comment.

Diehl won the state GOP endorsement earlier this year and has been successful in aligning himself with Trump. The co-chairman of Trump's 2016 presidential campaign in Massachusetts, Diehl has been supportive of such controversial policies as funding the construction of a wall on the Mexico-United States border.

He has said his political affiliation and loyalty to Trump make him better positioned than Warren to pass legislation that could ultimately benefit the Bay State under a Congress and a White House controlled by Republicans.

The strategy to embrace the president and his policies has paid political dividends in other parts of the country, including most recently in Florida, where Trump's support helped gubernatorial candidate Ron DeSantis win the Republican nomination last month.

But the strategy could be more difficult in Massachusetts, where Democrats make up the majority of voters, and polls show Trump is widely unpopular. A recent Morning Consult poll showed Trump is less popular in Massachusetts than any other state, with a 62 percent disapproval rating, whereas Warren recently earned a 53 percent favorability rating.

Speaking to supporters, Diehl made some reference to the need to change the current leadership dynamic in Washington.

“We’ve allowed Washington to become full of celebrities and not statesmen. It’s time to get the power back in the hands of the people,” he said.

Trump aside, Diehl will likely continue to target Warren's political aspiration. The progressive Democrat is widely considered a possible candidate for U.S. president in 2020. Warren has said she  is not running for president, but Diehl is already calling into question her commitment to the job.

"It all comes down to this, folks: While Warren has spent the last six years building a national profile, I’ve been working for you and most importantly I’ve been listening to you,” Diehl said.

Eli Sherman may be reached at esherman@wickedlocal.com

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