What They Are Saying: GOP “Scrambling” as Stacey Abrams Enters GA Race and Charlie Baker Won’t Run in MA

This week, two huge announcements were a huge blow to Republicans’ chances of winning key governor’s races in Georgia and Massachusetts. Stacey Abrams has declared she’s running for Georgia governor while Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker announced he won’t run for re-election.

Their announcements led to massive ratings changes which favor Democrats. Here’s what people are saying about the bad news for the GOP:

Georgia:

• Washington Post: “Trump issued a statement Wednesday night in which he aimed most of his criticism at Kemp, arguing that it would be difficult for the governor to win because ‘the MAGA base will just not vote for him.’”

• Atlanta Journal-Constitution: “There’s no doubt that Abrams and her allies also aim to exploit ongoing feuding among Georgia Republicans, who have been engaged in a yearslong battle between various pro-Trump factions. Trump and his loyalists have vowed to exact revenge on Kemp … and the former president suggested at a September rally that he would have preferred if Abrams was governor.”

Massachusetts:

• Cook Political Report: “[It’s] a major blow to Republicans that directly results from former President Trump’s meddling in races against incumbent governors he sees as insufficiently loyal.”

• Boston Globe: “[Baker] publicly feuded with Jim Lyons, the conservative head of his own state party who aligned the GOP apparatus with Trump. Trump, too, has weighed in, endorsing former state representative Geoff Diehl in the governor’s race, and attacking Baker as a RINO, or Republican In Name Only, last year, last month, and again on Wednesday.”

• Politico: “Baker’s decision not to seek reelection left some of his allies in Massachusetts Republican circles ‘scrambling’ … The Republican Governors Association had wanted to keep Baker on its team.”

• Washington Examiner: “The departure of a popular Republican governor in a blue state will become one of the key pickup opportunities for Democrats in gubernatorial races.”

• NJ Hotline: “Republicans will be tasked with choosing nominees who can walk the seemingly impossible tightrope of winning a primary that will inherently center on loyalty to Trump, while later winning a wider range of voters in the general election.”

DGA Deputy Communications Director Sam Newton said: “It’s been a bad week for Georgia and Massachusetts Republicans, who are facing an uphill battle against both Democrats and nasty infighting from their own party.”

###