Republican Geoff Diehl has tapped Corey Lewandowski, a Lowell native and one-time campaign manager for former President Donald Trump, as a senior adviser in his bid for Massachusetts governor.
In a statement announcing staff additions Wednesday morning, Diehl, a former state representative from Whitman, described Lewandowski as a “veteran of hundreds of campaigns at all levels of government.”
“I am pleased to have Corey on the team and honored that he believes in this campaign,” Diehl said, adding that the Republican strategist would serve as a “key adviser.”
Diehl, 52, previously ran for U.S. Senate against Sen. Elizabeth Warren in 2018. He previously noted to Bloomberg Baystate Business that former Republican governors Bill Weld and Mitt Romney also lost Senate campaigns to Democrats before serving on Beacon Hill.
Lewandowski, a longtime GOP strategist, commentator and lobbyist, served as Trump’s first campaign manager and was a trusted aide after Trump won the White House.
Politico reported in September that Lewandowski would no longer helm a pro-Trump super Political Action Committee, Make America Great Again Action, in the wake of allegations that he sexually harassed a Republican donor. Lewandowski’s attorneys at the time described the allegations as “accusations and rumors,” and said they would “not dignify them with a further response.”
Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey, State Sen. Sonia Chang-Díaz and Harvard political theorist Danielle Allen are the Democrats running to replace the outgoing Gov. Charlie Baker, a Republican. Diehl will face Republican gubernatorial hopeful Chris Doughty, a Wrentham business owner who launched his bid last week.
Healey, in a statement Wednesday morning, sharply rebuked Diehl’s campaign.
“With Corey Lewandowski in the fold, it is even clearer that Mr. Diehl’s agenda is fueled by hate and division, and will take us backwards on climate, equality, racial justice, and economic growth,” Healey said. “There is much at stake in this election, and I am committed to being a Governor who brings people together instead of further dividing us, and ushers in positive change for our state. The contrast could not be more stark.”
Allen, chuckling to reporters at a campaign event Wednesday morning at the Boston Common, said she had no comment about Lewandowski’s new role.
Chang-Díaz said she was not surprised by Diehl’s hire.
“Mr. Diehl has repeatedly tried to bring Trump’s white supremacist extremism to Massachusetts,” Chang-Díaz said in a statement to MassLive. “But if Democrats are going to offer something substantive to working families, we have to be more than just a foil to Donald Trump. Massachusetts voters need a candidate who’s shown they will take on the obstacles to racial and economic justice right here in Massachusetts, and deliver real solutions.”
Last fall, before Baker announced he wouldn’t seek re-election, Trump issued a statement describing him as a “RINO” — a Republican in name only. Baker shrugged off the insult and said he was focused on his job.
Trump endorsed Diehl, however, describing him as “a true patriot, a believer in low energy costs and our independent energy policy (which was just obliterated by the Biden Administration with energy costs soaring!).”
Diehl on Wednesday also announced the naming of Fred and Kristy Smerlas as campaign fundraising co-chairs. Fred Smerlas is former All-Pro NFL nose tackle who closed out a 14-year career with the New England Patriots in the early 1990s, as well as a radio commentator and business owner.
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- Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker shrugs off sharp words, endorsement of Geoff Diehl by former President Donald Trump
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