Charles D. Baker, the GOP’s defeated 2010 candidate, will announce a second gubernatorial campaign Wednesday, a much anticipated move that party insiders see as critical to Republican hopes of recapturing the governor’s office, according to three top Massachusetts Republican leaders briefed on his decision.
Baker, who held top cabinet posts in the Weld and Cellucci administrations, will use social media to roll out his candidacy for next year’s election. He will later hold a media availability, those Republicans said.
Baker did not respond to calls seeking comment about his pending announcement.
His decision to run is hugely important in shaping the emerging race for governor that already has five Democrats seeking their party’s nomination.
Without Baker, the GOP would have been looking at a thin bench of viable candidates. Former US Senator Scott Brown’s recent announcement that he would not run for the office highlighted the party’s heavy reliance on Baker getting into the race.
Baker had long been considered a rising star in the Massachusetts political and government world, but his 2010 race to unseat Governor Deval L. Patrick scarred his image as a bi-partisan moderate who could appeal to centrist independents and Democrats.
The post-election analysis laid much of the blame for his poor showing on his often strident appeals to the conservative right. One of Baker’s strong points should be the potential support he can get from across party lines and from moderate independents because of progressive positions on social, human services, and environmental issues.
But faced during the 2010 race with then state Treasurer Timothy P. Cahill, a former Democrat, running as an independent with appeals to the conservative Democrats and independents, Baker spent much of his effort covering his right flank. In the end, Patrick won re-election with 48 percent of the vote. Baker received 42 percent and Cahill got 8 percent.
