Copyright The Boston Globe
An endorsement could effectively cut off any jockeying for the Republican nomination before it has begun — and months before voters have the opportunity to weigh in on the race. A fixture of the Senate since 2013, Markey is running for reelection, and has already drawn a Democratic primary challenge from US Representative Seth Moulton. Part of Deaton’s pitch to party leaders is that his fund-raising potential, and perhaps also his ample personal finances, could help a statewide organization that has long struggled to raise money settle its six-figure debts, according to three Republicans who spoke with Deaton. The Republicans said that Deaton, without guaranteeing he would give a specific dollar amount, has made clear he wants to be a team player, and intends to support the beleaguered party, as well as down-ballot GOP candidates. Should the party endorse him, Deaton could help direct money into its coffers through a lucrative joint fund-raising agreement with national Republicans. He could also make a hefty donation of his own to a legal defense fund set up on the party’s behalf, Republicans told the Globe. Deaton would need a two-thirds vote from the party’s 80-member state committee to win its endorsement. Deaton has told fellow Republicans that backing him early could be their party’s best shot at toppling whichever Democrat emerges from that side’s primary battle. In addition to Markey and Moulton, former teacher Alex Rikleen has been campaigning around the state. Massachusetts Republicans have not won a statewide race since 2018, and have not held a US Senate seat here in more than a decade. Any move by the party to endorse Deaton would also raise questions about the role of money in politics, and who in the GOP is empowered to choose the best candidate: party operatives or the voters themselves. Many Republicans in Massachusetts and beyond condemned Democrats last year when Kamala Harris effectively inherited the presidential nomination after President Biden dropped out of the race. Two Republicans who are also considering entering the US Senate race said that voters, not party leaders, should decide who will represent them in the September 2026 primary. “The state committee should stay neutral until after the primary,” said Nathan Bech, a Republican state committee member and former West Springfield town councilor. “At the end of the day, it’s gonna be the primary voters who decide.” Christopher Thrasher, who chairs the Westport School Committee and is also considering a bid for Senate, said he hopes the state committee refrains until after the party’s convention next spring. “Voters should be the ones making decisions on candidates, and not state committees,” Thrasher told the Globe. Thrasher said he’s heard “rumblings” of Deaton potentially helping the party financially. “There’s no question that I kind of look at it a little funny,” he said. Reached by the Globe this week, Deaton declined to comment, noting he is not yet officially a candidate. “I am very excited about my event and I believe that many of the voters of Massachusetts are also going to be pleased,” Deaton said. “I would not [run] again unless I truly believed there was a path to victory. That doesn’t make it an easy path, but nothing in my life has been an easy path.” Reached for comment, state GOP chair Amy Carnevale said if fellow Republicans submit a letter seeking a formal endorsement vote for Deaton, she would place it on the agenda for the state committee later this month. Any Republican will face an uphill battle in a Senate race in reliably blue Massachusetts. When he ran in 2024, Deaton lost to Warren by 20 percentage points. Deaton’s campaign and an aligned PAC spent about $4 million on the race in total. Still, crowning Deaton early could give the underdog GOP a months-long head start on campaigning and fund-raising for the general election, while Democrats are still slugging it out ahead of a September primary. The contest is expected to grow ugly as Markey seeks reelection at age 79 and Moulton runs on generational change. An early endorsement could also pay major financial dividends to the state party, which has been weighed down by debt for years. After years of internal drama, leadership disputes, unpaid bills, and illegal campaign donations, the state GOP found itself in 2023 in hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt. Since she was first elected party chair in 2023, Carnevale has worked to steady the ship and pay off those debts, including reaching a $400,000 settlement with a vendor that sued over unpaid work on 2022 Republican campaigns. But fund-raising has proven challenging; donors would rather support an exciting new candidate than pay old bills. Typically, the state and national party cannot raise or spend money on behalf of a candidate before he or she is officially voted as the nominee. Massachusetts’ state primary falls very late in the election cycle, giving campaigns a very brief runway to take advantage of those joint fund-raising opportunities. Endorsing Deaton as early as this year would mean extra months of fund-raising for the party through its federal account, which has a higher contribution limit than its state equivalent. It could also lay the groundwork for a joint fund-raising agreement with national Republicans that could bring in money for other state GOP candidates as well or for broader get-out-the-vote efforts on behalf of Republicans. Deaton entered into such an agreement in 2024. Deaton proved he has strong fund-raising potential in his first bid for office, when high-profile figures in the crypto industry poured money into his campaign and an aligned super PAC. Deaton’s own significant personal finances could also help his campaign and down-ballot Republicans. The candidate put $1 million of his own money into the 2024 race, and a financial disclosure he filed at the time showed his assets were between $18 million and $108 million. There is no limit to how much Deaton could personally give to the state party’s legal defense funds, separate fund-raising accounts that can be used to pay costs associated with criminal, civil, or administrative matters. For his part, Thrasher said he hopes the state committee will hold off on making an endorsement. But he said he understands the party has to make the best decision possible for the party’s finances and electoral prospects. “It’s one of those, ‘all’s fair in love and war and politics,’ right?” he said.
