The former Massachusetts governor will face a steep climb against Trump, an incumbent who is deeply popular with Republican voters.
By Robert Costa Robert Costa National political reporter covering the White House, Congress and campaigns Email Bio Follow April 15 at 5:10 PM Former Massachusetts governor Bill Weld officially announced Monday that he will challenge President Trump for the 2020 Republican presidential nomination, after several months of mulling a long-shot bid that would appeal to traditional GOP voters.
“The President is in a vastly stronger position at this point than any previous incumbent president running for reelection, and only continues to build momentum,” Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale said in a statement. A White House official, who was not authorized to speak publicly, dismissed Weld on Monday as a “relic” and someone who “is a big liberal” on climate change and drug issues. Weld has called climate change a dire threat to the nation and backed the use of medical marijuana for veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.
Weld has been a fierce critic of Trump’s nationalism and called it an outgrowth of movements of hate groups in Europe and elsewhere. He told the New Yorker in a recent interview that Trump uses a “dog whistle loud and clear” to win support from white supremacists and others. Hogan said in an interview last month that he often thinks of his father, the late Maryland congressman Lawrence J. Hogan Sr., as he contemplates his political future. Hogan Sr. was famously the first GOP member of the House Judiciary Committee to call for President Richard M. Nixon’s impeachment in 1974. But he has not yet made a decision.
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