Geoff Diehl taps former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski as senior adviser in campaign for governor

Republican candidate for governor Geoff Diehl is leaning hard into his Trump ties, announcing the former president’s longtime adviser and one-time campaign manager Corey Lewandowski is joining his team.

The Diehl campaign announced Lewandowski would be “a key advisor to have in running this campaign” in a Tuesday announcement.

“I am pleased to have Corey on the team and honored that he believes in this campaign,” Diehl said, describing his new adviser as “a veteran of hundreds of campaigns at all levels of government.”

The controversial conservative commentator and Lowell native who served as Trump’s first campaign adviser joined the campaign in January. Though Lewandowski was fired in September from running the pro-Trump super Political Action Committee, Make America Great Again Action, in the fallout over allegations that he sexually harassed a Republican donor at a Las Vegas fundraiser, Lewandowski claims he still has Trump’s ear.

The former Trump adviser spoke to the former president twice this week, he said Tuesday during an appearance on “The Howie Carr Show,” and “spent the day with him” at Mar-a-Lago in Florida recently.

Trump has endorsed Diehl in the Massachusetts governor’s race, which Lewandowski said “drove Charlie Baker out of this race.” Baker and Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito in December announced they would not run for a third term.

Despite the tight ties to Trump, Lewandowski said Diehl is running on a platform that “is going to be inclusive of everybody and outline the values of America first — more importantly, family values of putting people first and not partisan politics.”

Maura Healey, the current state attorney general and Democratic front-runner in the governor’s race, took the chance to rip Diehl over his new hire.

“Corey Lewandowski’s new role in Geoff Diehl’s campaign tells us all we need to know about the kind of Governor he would be. With Corey Lewandowski in the fold, it is even clearer that Mr. Diehl’s agenda is fueled by hate and division,” she said in a statement.

State Sen. Sonia Chang-Diaz piled on, adding she’s “not surprised” Diehl would align with Lewandowski.

“Mr. Diehl has repeatedly tried to bring Trump’s white supremacist extremism to Massachusetts,” Chang-Diaz said.

A third Democratic candidate, Harvard Professor Danielle Allen, declined to comment.

“The thing about Geoff Diehl and the reason I want to be a part of his team is because I know a winner when I see one,” Lewandowski said, plugging Diehl’s fight against the gas tax while serving in the state Legislature.

Diehl will face off against Wrentham businessman Chris Doughty in a Republican primary in September. Doughty’s campaign did not immediately respond to news of Lewandowski’s involvement.