This year, as Democrats attempt to unseat a popular Republican Governor, one of their strategies seems to be tying the race for the Corner Office to the Oval Office.
Calling Massachusetts a "deep blue" state, 7th Congressional District candidate Ayanna Pressley told a crowd of several hundred in Cambridge that a vote for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jay Gonzalez is a vote against President Donald Trump.
"Charlie Baker, who's befriending and standing right alongside those that are Trump-light, does not have a bold, inclusive vision of this Commonwealth of today or the Commonwealth of our future," she said.
Both Pressley and U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren accused Baker of criticizing the Trump administration while simultaneously supporting similar Massachusetts Republican candidates.
Warren, who’s running for re-election against Republican challenger Geoff Diehl, has the confidence of more than half the voters surveyed this summer by the polling firm Morning Consult.
The company’s latest poll on gubernatorial approval also showed Baker topping the nation as the most popular governor. The survey suggests Gonzalez could have a hard time unseating the chief executive.
Warren and Pressley, who both enjoy national press attention and applause from partisan audiences, told reporters after the rally that Jay Gonzalez will have the full support of the state’s Democratic voters.
“I think there’s enthusiasm out there,” said Warren linking Gonzalez to the so-called “progressive wave,” that ushered in younger, more left-leaning candidates like Pressley. “That’s why all three of us are here.”
“There is no enthusiasm gap – did you feel the energy in this room?” Pressley chimed in about Gonzalez. “When you give people a reason to show up, they do and today we offered one.”
Gonzalez has eight weeks until the November general election to build on that energy.
