Republican nominee for governor Geoff Diehl weighs in on Trump endorsement, COVID restrictions
BOSTON – Republican nominee for Massachusetts governor Geoff Diehl joined WBZ-TV political analyst Jon Keller to discuss a variety of topics, including his stance on COVID restrictions and his endorsement from former president Donald Trump.
Diehl was asked if he regrets pushing for Trump's endorsement and distancing himself from fellow Republican Gov. Charlie Baker. In Massachusetts, the former president's approval rating is in the mid-30s, while Baker's approval is close to 70%.
Diehl said that he does "appreciate everything (Baker's) done" in office, and added that he supported the former president because "Trump delivered four years that I thought was pretty successful for our country."
"At this point for me it's the support of the people of Massachusetts I'm most concerned with," Diehl said.
Keller asked Diehl if he would favor any restrictions if a scenario such as the COVID pandemic took place while he was governor. Diehl opposed many COVID restrictions.
Diehl said he believes the COVID pandemic has shown how to handle lockdowns. He said many were locked down "unnecessarily."
"Kids lost almost two years of school education when we found out they were the least vulnerable population. On the other hand, the other spectrum was the Holyoke Soldiers home where there was comingling with people who should have never been comingling," Diehl said. "We have to follow the science, and the science showed the elderly were the more at risk or anyone who felt they had underlying conditions that put them at risk, certainly vaccines, masks unvaccinated would be available to them. But I think we have to look at what we did the economy, to education and say was that full lockdown the way we should have gone?"
Massachusetts is set to elect its next governor on November 8.
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