Republican Charlie Baker implies he’s supporting Democrat Doug Jones in the Senate race in Alabama
"I would be supporting the alternative."
Gov. Charlie Baker might not quite be writing “Doug Jones for U.S. Senate” checks like some of his fellow Republicans. But the Massachusetts governor strongly suggested Monday that he is backing the Alabama Democrat in Tuesday’s election against Republican Roy Moore — albeit in a somewhat tortured exchange.
“I’m certainly not supporting Roy Moore,” Baker said at a public event Monday afternoon. “I think the only other candidate on the ballot is Doug Jones.”
The governor was then asked by a reporter if that meant he was supporting Jones.
“I think Doug Jones – I certainly don’t want to see Roy Moore win – that means, obviously, that I would be supporting the alternative,” he said.
Jones, a former federal prosecutor, is the only other candidate on Tuesday’s special election ballot.
Baker added Monday that it wouldn’t be the first time he supported a Democrat and that he believes “competitive politics is a good thing.”
“I’ve voted for Democrats before,” he said. “Non-partisan elections, local elections, and places I’ve lived, I’ve voted for Democrats.”
Baker had previously said he believes Moore — a former Alabama judge with a record of highly controversial statements and actions, particularly on religion and LGBT rights, who also faces numerous allegations of sexual misconduct — is “unfit” to serve in public office, but had stopped short of expressing explicit support for his Democratic opponent.
Despite his statement Monday in support of the “alternative,” Baker said he did not plan to stop participating in a joint fundraising effort between the Massachusetts Republican Party and the Republican National Committee. According to The Boston Globe, the agreement sends 40 percent of the money Baker raises for a joint venture called the Massachusetts Victory Committee to the RNC, which recently renewed its financial support of Moore.
Baker’s aides told the Globe last week that the Bay State governor was “disappointed” by the RNC’s decision, but had no plans to end the fundraising arrangement.
