Gov. Charlie Baker is not merely waiting to announce whether he will seek a third term in office next year, he said Tuesday, as he described the decision as "a very complicated issue ... for all kinds of reasons."
During a portion of a GBH Radio interview that got slightly testy Tuesday, co-host Jim Braude asked the governor what happened to his plan of taking the summer to talk about reelection with his family and announcing a decision at some point after Labor Day.
"I do remember that," Baker said, "And we are post-Labor Day...and we'll make a decision soon."
When Braude asked Baker directly whether he has made a decision, the governor responded, "It's a very complicated issue, Jim, for all kinds of reasons." Baker then rejected Braude's assertion that "it sounds like you've made a decision and you just don't, you're not yet ready to announce it."
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Braude, who has made a habit of asking Baker about reelection each time the governor appears on his show, then seemed to annoy the governor by asking why the decision is a complicated one.
"Are you serious?" Baker said before saying that some of the many considerations "are professional and some are personal."
"Let's put it this way: Anybody who makes a decision about something like this without thinking really hard about it isn't doing themselves, their families or the communities they want to serve any favors because you're signing up for something that is hugely important," Baker, who has made the decision to run for governor in 2010, 2014 and 2018, said. "And it comes with an enormous amount of opportunity, and at the same time, tremendous challenges, many of which you don't get to know about in advance."
Gov. Baker Reelection
If Baker opts to seek a third term next year, he will have to face former Rep. Geoff Diehl in a Republican primary and, if successful, would face whichever Democrat emerges from a field that so far includes Sen. Sonia Chang-Diaz, former Sen. Ben Downing and Harvard professor Danielle Allen.
Though Baker frequently bemoans the lack of civility in politics, especially at the national level, he responded last month to a question from WBZ's Jon Keller about whether he feels burnt out by the job by saying how excited he is to put American Rescue Plan Act money to use. During that interview, Baker even offered a brief sketch of what his third-term priorities could be.
