MASSACHUSETTS: Scott Lively Forces Gubernatorial Primary With 28% Vote By GOP Convention Delegates

WAMC Radio reports:

Massachusetts Republicans endorsed incumbent Governor Charlie Baker for a second term at their convention this weekend. Despite handily capturing his party’s endorsement, it wasn’t entirely smooth sailing for the first-term governor on Saturday at the DCU Center in Worcester. His main opponent garnered enough support to force a primary.

“Will the clerk display the tally, please?” asked the convention’s MC. “For Charlie Baker, 1,577 votes for 69.7 percent of the vote. For Scott Lively, 626 votes for 27.67 percent of the vote. No preference, 58 votes 2.52 percent. It gives me great pleasure to present to this convention your endorsed candidate for governor of the commonwealth of Massachusetts, Charlie Baker.”

MassLive reports:



When a reporter noted Lively’s positions, Baker said, “Look, there’s no place and no point in public life, in any life, for a lot of the things Scott Lively says and believes. Okay? And that’s why I’m pleased that 7 out of 10 delegates in that convention chose us as their nominees.”

Baker declined to discuss why nearly 27 percent of delegates at the GOP convention voted for Lively.

“Look I can’t get into the minds of people who made decisions to support us or support anybody else,” Baker said. “But I can tell you that Scott Lively, a lot of what he says and a lot of what he believes doesn’t belong in public discourse.”