BOSTON —With the balance of power in Washington in the balance on Tuesday, Gov. Charlie Baker won't say whether he'd like to see his Republican Party retain full control of Congress.
Baker has faced questions throughout his campaign for re-election about his support for Republican candidates up and down the ballot in Massachusetts, including U.S. Senate candidate Geoff Diehl, who was the chief Donald Trump surrogate here during the 2016 presidential campaign.
And to all those question, the governor has said that while he endorsed "the ticket," he is focused on his own campaign.
In the final debate of the campaign on Thursday night, Democrat Jay Gonzalez hammered Baker for his support of Diehl and attorney general candidate Jay McMahon, another conservative, pro-Trump Republican the governor has endorsed as part of the GOP ticket. Gonzalez said McMahon has referred to immigrants as "savages" and has said he believes in a "god-given right to assault weapons."
When pressed on his support for the two candidates, who hold more conservative positions than he does, Baker said he had promised to support the Republican ticket in Massachusetts.
On Friday, just days before the midterm elections, Baker refused to break from that stance, even when faced with the most generic of questions about support for his party nationally.
Asked if he would like to see Republicans retain control of both houses of Congress, Baker said, "Well, I'm pretty focused on what's going on here in Massachusetts and the race I'm really interested in seeing the incumbents retain is the governor and lieutenant governor's office."
"Obviously, I've supported other candidates, but most of my work has been with incumbent legislators at the state rep and state senate level and people have to make their own case to the voters," he said.
In addition to Diehl's race against U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, five of the state's nine U.S. House seats are contested this cycle. Baker has endorsed in three of those races, backing Republican Joseph Schneider of Beverly in his home Sixth District over U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton and siding with the GOP's Rick Green of Pepperell in the open Third District and Peter Tedeschi of Marshfield in his race against U.S. Rep. William Keating.
According to Baker's campaign, the governor has held campaign events, including fundraisers, with two of those candidates – Green and Tedeschi.
And yet, Baker would not say whether he thinks Republicans, on the whole, are offering better ideas for the country than Democrats, such as the GOP tax reform that had major implications for Bay State businesses and state budget revenues.
"It's up to people here in the Commonwealth to make decisions about who they want to be represented by, both at the state level and at the federal level. And I've endorsed people who I think are good candidates and I hope people give them a good look," Baker said.
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