'They affect everything we do': Mass GOP strategist says Trump indictments hurt local Republican candidates
BOSTON - As former President Donald Trump is arraigned for a third, separate criminal indictment regarding his role in attempts to overturn the 2020 election, Massachusetts Republicans are faced with the reality of how his legal issues affect their local elections.
The indictments "affect everything we do for work," explained GOP political strategist Wendy Wakeman.
In Massachusetts, fewer than 9% of voters are registered Republicans. Most of the state is unenrolled. The state hasn't voted for the Republican presidential candidate since Ronald Reagan.
On the national level, Trump's indictments appear to have strengthened his base. In a recent New York Times poll, Trump and Biden were tied in a theoretical general election.
But on the local level, GOP strategist Wendy Wakeman says Trump's prominence and indictments are negatively impacting GOP candidates at home.
"Trump isn't the kind of candidate who wins here," Wakeman explained. "And I think, for Massachusetts Republicans, this continues to deepen the divide between the really hard line MAGA Republicans and folks who are Republicans but are more willing to reach across the aisle to try to work with the Democrats."
That divide lowers the chances of electoral victories for local GOP candidates, she says. "[Trump's] presence makes that divide much deeper and much more bitter," she explained. "Our candidates are going to have a hard time until we find a great candidate at the top of the ticket who can both articulate a Republican message in Massachusetts that makes sense to the more moderate voters of Massachusetts, but also make sense to the Trump loyalists who have a great point when they say government is out of control."
In addition, Wakeman says Trump's indictments are a distraction from the issues she and other Republican leaders would prefer to talk about. "What we need is we need somebody who can kind of pull in the machinery of government, make it small, make it less a part of people's everyday lives. That's the part of Trump's message that really resonates with the base here in Massachusetts," she said.