Weld brings presidential campaign to Worcester
Photo | Courtesy of Regan Communications Group
Bill Weld (center) visits the Polar Park construction site.
U.S. presidential candidate Bill Weld took a tour of Worcester on Tuesday in advance of the Massachusetts primary election on March 3, talking about the importance of controlling the national debt and fighting climate change.
Weld, who served as Massachusetts governor from 1991 to 1997, is challenging President Donald Trump for the Republican nomination. In the Iowa caucus, Weld received 1.3% of the votes cast, and in New Hampshire, he received 9%.
In an interview with WBJ, Weld was upfront about the difficulty in facing a sitting president for a presidential nomination and said he was modeling his campaign after what Pat Buchanan did in the 1992 presidential election, where he eroded some of George Bush's support for the Republican nomination. Conservative candidate Ross Perot eventually entered the general election race in 1992 as a third-party candidate, split conservative votes with Bush, and Democratic candidate Bill Clinton won the general election.
"The worm can turn," Weld said.
Weld has one Republican delegate compared to Trump's 86. The eventual nominee will need 1,237.
In the 24 states allowing crossover voting (meaning you don't need to be affiliated with a particular political party to vote in its primary), Weld is hopeful he can pick up some support from Democrats. He said there is an outside chance he could win one of these states, like Massachusetts or Vermont.
Weld's two main issues of his campaign are eliminating the trillion-dollar federal deficit and fighting climate change. Both of these issues are important to businesses, as well as younger voters, who he said are important in defeating Trump in the general election.
"Getting rid of a trillion-dollar deficit would be child's play for someone with ice in their veins," Weld said.
Weld supports free trade, as opposed to Trump's trade wars, particularly with China. He liked the tax reform package put in place at the end of 2017, although Weld said Trump doesn't deserve much credit for the tax package, since it was mostly developed by then House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI).
"I never met a tax cut I didn't like," Weld said.
During his tour of Worcester, Weld held a forum at Worcester State University and toured the $132-million Polar Park public baseball stadium development.
"The stadium is going to be great," Weld said. "They are going to build a lot of high-end stuff there."
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