WHITMAN, Mass. (WHDH) — With the 2018 election drawing near, Republicans are getting ready to pounce on the seat held by Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren.
One local state representative has hopes of unseating Warren, who has held office since 2012.
7’s Sharman Sacchetti sat down with Republica Geoff Diehl and asked him how he believes he can defeat Warren in the historically blue state of Massachusetts.
Diehl co-chaired President Trump’s campaign in Massachusetts and now he’s forming an exploratory committee to see if he can raise enough money to challenge Warren.
“Scott Brown proved that you can’t predict anything in Massachusetts,” Diehl said.
The Whitman State Representative is testing the waters for a possible bid for US Senate. Diehl says Warren hasn’t done enough to help Massachusetts.
“It’s not just the fact that she’s more interested in cutting a profile for herself, to be president, you know to run for president in 2020, but the fact is she hasn’t really delivered for the state of Massachusetts,” Diehl said when asked why he though Warren was vulnerable.
Diehl says he believes he could have a chance in the 2018 race, which is expected to draw millions in outside money from both sides.
Diehl called Warren an obstructionist and said he’d work with Trump.
“Well, of course that’s up to the president, but I would expect that they would be supporting this race because she’s proven to be a thorn in the side to people,” Diehl said when asked if he thinks Trump would campaign on his behalf.
Warren is a proven fundraising powerhouse. A check of her campaign account shows she had $4.8 million since the last filing in 2016.
Diehl says he’s used to long shots and he cited his work in organizing the ballot question that successfully repealed automatic indexing on the gas tax in 2014.
“Nobody expected us to win that. We had $3 million spent against us and we won that issue anyway as a grassroots team,” Diehl said.
Sacchetti reached out to Warren’s office, but did not hear back regarding a comment on her potential challenger.
Recent polls do suggest cause for concern for Warren. A WBUR poll from January showed 46 percent of voters believe someone else should get a chance to run. Her approval rating was 51 percent
(Copyright (c) 2024 Sunbeam Television. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)