Battenfeld: A big win for Donald Trump in Massachusetts Republican convention fight

Massachusetts Republican delegates left little doubt about where they want the party going, giving a resounding win to Donald Trump-backed Geoff Diehl in the gubernatorial convention battle.

It was no contest. The conservative Diehl got 71% of the endorsement vote, bashing his opponent Chris Doughty, who won just 29% — enough to at least win a place on the September primary ballot.

Diehl told delegates on Saturday he was the Democrats’ “worst nightmare” — a questionable claim considering Diehl was trounced in his last statewide election by U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren. Some moderate Republicans might actually call Diehl their worst nightmare because of his electability.

“Progressives fear us because we have the courage to stand by our convictions and to fight against their great reset of the country,” Diehl said. “I have the courage to look (voters) in the eye and say ‘no.’ Massachusetts should not be the testing ground for outrageous liberal experiments.”

Diehl also promised to rehire all the state workers and first responders who were fired because they refused to get vaccinated for COVID-19.

Diehl heads into the primary as the clear favorite of GOP activists, who are more conservative than the average Republican party voter. So Doughty will have more of a chance in September because the primary electorate is more moderate.

But Doughty — who touted himself as a moderate alternative to Diehl — will be a huge underdog in the coming months. His admission that he voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016 certainly didn’t help him with conservative activists at the convention.

Whoever wins the GOP primary will have a tough time defeating the Democratic nominee, most likely Attorney General Maura Healey.

The Diehl campaign — organized and enthusiastic — pushed hard to keep Doughty off the ballot by denying him his 15% of the vote. But in the end that effort failed when Doughty got nearly double what he needed as a bare minimum to qualify for a spot on the ballot.

Still, it was hardly a dominating performance by the first-time candidate Doughty, who was fighting for just a respectable showing. The Wrentham business owner now heads for the September primary with an uphill battle to say the least.

The convention vote on Saturday had national implications because of Trump’s involvement. Trump actually went to the trouble to give a glowing endorsement to Diehl, who was co-chair of the Massachusetts Trump campaign.

Trump won more than one million votes in Massachusetts in 2020 even though he was trounced by Joe Biden.

In the lieutenant governor race, Diehl’s running mate, Leah Cole Allen, also easily won the party endorsement but Doughty running mate Kate Campanale at least made the ballot with about 30% of the vote. No surprise there.

Gov. Charlie Baker and Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito boycotted the convention, averting what could have been the embarrassing spectacle of them being booed off the stage by the delegates in their own party.