GOP Massachusetts governor says he won’t support Trump

Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker, one of President Trump’s most vocal Republican critics, said Wednesday that he will not support the president when it comes to the November election.

The governor demurred on the question earlier Wednesday when asked by reporters, saying, “I haven’t decided yet,” according to a Boston-area NBC affiliate. In a statement later in the day, communications director Lizzy Guyton said more definitively the governor would not support Trump.

“The governor cannot support Donald Trump for president and is focused on seeing Massachusetts through the pandemic,” Guyton said. “He’ll leave the election analysis to the pundits.”

Baker previously criticized the president for refusing to commit to a peaceful transfer of power following the election, prompting Trump to attack him as a “RINO,” or Republican in name only.

The Massachusetts governor also joined Vermont Gov. Phil Scott (R) in urging Senate Republicans to wait until after the presidential election to appoint a replacement for the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

“I urge President Trump and the U.S. Senate to allow the American people to cast their ballots for President before a new justice is nominated or confirmed,” Baker said shortly after Ginsburg’s death, adding that the nomination “is too important to rush and must be removed from partisan political infighting.”

Baker is one of the nation’s most popular governors, due largely to support from Democrats. An August University of Massachusetts-Lowell survey found that 89 percent of likely Democratic primary voters approve of his performance.