GOP Challenger to Warren to Launch Full-Time Campaign
State Rep. Geoff Diehl promises to ‘Put Massachusetts First’
A conservative Massachusetts state representative says he’ll officially launch his challenge to Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren full-time in August.
Rep. Geoff Diehl, who co-chaired President Donald Trump’s campaign in the state, told the Boston Herald Wednesday that he will begin campaigning full-time on Aug. 1.
The Whitman Republican has long been a foe of Warren’s, making stops across the Bay State while mocking her for traveling across the country to promote her book. Diehl’s campaign website says he “has promised to be a full time Senator not a part-time author.”
State Democratic Party leaders called on Diehl to step down as co-chair of Trump’s campaign last summer but he refused, saying the move was a distraction from “flawed” candidate Hillary Clinton.
And Diehl seems to be replicating some of Trump’s campaign slogans, with a section on his website titled, “Put Massachusetts First.” The description says Diehl will “travel the Commonwealth to work with you and make Massachusetts great again.”
First elected to the State House in 2010, Diehl received support from then-Sen. Scott Brown during his campaign. Brown later lost to Warren in 2012 and currently serves in the Trump administration as ambassador to New Zealand and Samoa.
Also running for the Republican nomination is Shiva Ayyadurai, a Cambridge technology entrepreneur. Ayyadurai, who immigrated to the U.S. from India when he was seven, mocked Warren on Fox Business Wednesday, saying “only a real Indian can defeat a fake Indian,” a reference to Warren’s claims of Native-American ancestry.
Warren’s re-election campaign said the Democrat raised more than $3.4 million during the second quarter of this year. This was lower than the January-March period, when she brought in $5.2 million, but still gives her an advantage over any challenger.
Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales rates the Senate race Solid Democratic.