While President Donald Trump endures what could be a lengthy impeachment investigation leading up to his re-election efforts for the 2020 presidential election, former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld formally filed paperwork on Wednesday to join the New Hampshire Republican primary. His filing could add yet another hurdle for Trump to deal with in the coming months.
According to The Hill , Weld, who has long been a vocal critic of the president, is essentially betting big on winning over Republican voters in the early-voting battleground state of New Hampshire, claiming that if he manages to pull off a victory there, “all bets are off.”
“I think this is doable, based on what I hear on the ground in New Hampshire,” Weld said. “I’ve been talking to many more voters than Mr. Trump is up there.”
As The Hill reported, Weld might have his sights set high on New Hampshire, but if recent polling data is any indication of the potential outcome of his political play, the results could be far from victorious. A poll from CNN and the University of New Hampshire over the summer revealed that Weld was only able to secure 7 percent of support from Republican voters in the Granite State, while the president snapped up a staggering 86 percent of support.
Weld, who announced his Republican challenge to Trump for the White House in April, has a record of slamming the president as a racist.
“Let’s get one thing out of the way right at the beginning: Donald Trump is a raging racist, okay. He’s a complete and thoroughgoing racist and he made that choice as a choice a long time ago,” Weld said over the summer.
At the same time, he also issued a stark warning to the Republican Party, claiming that the party would be known as racists if they continued to throw their full support behind the president.
“And unless the Republican Party in Washington expressly, expressly rejects the racism of Donald Trump they’re going to become to be universally viewed as the party of racism in America,” Weld said.
It’s official! On the ballot for the First in the Nation primary. Thanks to all the great supporters who joined us, and looking forward to taking our campaign to every corner of New Hampshire. #FITN pic.twitter.com/xO2llvzJQx
— Gov. Bill Weld (@GovBillWeld) November 13, 2019
News of Weld’s official filing in New Hampshire comes less than 24 hours after fellow Republican and former lawmaker Mark Sanford officially exited the 2020 race on Tuesday. At the current time, the only other GOP challenger in the race to replace Trump is former Rep. Joe Walsh.
As previously reported by The Inquisitr , all three anti-Trump Republicans debated the current impeachment investigation at a recent Politicon conference. While Sanford expressed concern over the public’s potentially negative perception of impeachment, Weld and Walsh held nothing back and stated that impeachment is the best route to take at this point in time.
At the time, Weld also blasted congressional Republicans for not speaking out against Trump for fear of not being re-elected in 2020.