Local News

Former Gov. Charlie Baker says he won’t ‘rule out’ return to politics

Baker, now president of the NCAA, did not elaborate and refused to talk about any topics not related to college sports.

Former Mass. Gov. Charlie Baker now works as the head of the NCAA. Stephanie Scarbrough/AP

October 11, 2024

1 minute to read

Former Mass. Gov. Charlie Baker is keeping the possibility of a return to politics open, but he is not saying much more than that.

Baker, now the president of the NCAA, was speaking Thursday at the UMass Club about his work leading the collegiate sports organization. When asked about a potential political revival, Baker responded by saying that he would “never rule anything out,” State House News Service reported.

“But I think we live in really challenging times, and it’s important [for] really good people to step up,” Baker reportedly added.

Baker, a moderate Republican from Swampscott, served two terms and chose not to run for a third. When he left office in early 2023, Baker was the most well-liked Massachusetts governor in recorded history.

Even before becoming the head of the NCAA, Baker treaded carefully around national politics. He declined to endorse a presidential candidate in both 2016 and 2020. In both years, he said he left that portion of his ballot blank, not casting a vote for Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, or Joe Biden.

“I’m not old enough to run for president, I’m only turning 68 this year,” Baker joked during the event Thursday.

Baker parried questions about who he might vote for in the current presidential election, the New England Patriots, and Gov. Maura Healey’s work as governor so far, per SHNS. He declined to answer any questions not pertaining to college sports.

“If someone told me, literally, in October of ’22, rolling into the end of my term … you’re going to be president of the NCAA, I would have said, ‘yeah right.’ So, I never rule anything out,” he said.