Former Mass. Gov. Weld announces exploratory committee for White House run

BOSTON — Former Massachusetts Gov. William Weld announced he is launching an exploratory committee for a 2020 presidential run.

Weld made the announcement at a "Politics & Eggs" event in Bedford, New Hampshire. Within minutes of announcing that he will officially launch a committee for the 2020 race, his Twitter profile was changed to a "Weld 2020" graphic and a link to his new official website.

Previously, Weld had a link for Freedom for America posted in his Twitter bio.

"We have a president whose priorities are skewed towards promotion of himself rather than for the good of the country," he said. "He may have great energy and considerable raw talent but he does not use that in ways that promote democracy, truth, justice and equal opportunity for all. To compound matters, our president is simply too unstable to carry out the duties of the highest executive office in the land."

Weld recently changed his party registration from Libertarian back to Republican as he mulls a possible primary challenge against President Donald Trump.

Despite a pledge to libertarians that he would remain loyal to the party going forward, Weld on Jan. 17 walked into the clerk's office of the Massachusetts town where he lives and re-registered with the GOP, adding to speculation that he would challenge Trump in the primaries.

The move makes Trump the first incumbent president since  George H.W. Bush in 1992 to face a notable primary challenge, Other Republicans eyeing a presidential campaign include former Ohio Gov. John Kasich and Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan.

Fiscally conservative but socially liberal, 73-year-old Weld served as a Republican governor from 1991 until 1997. He later became a Libertarian and ran for vice president on a ticket with former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson in the 2016 election.

Weld has not won a political race since being re-elected governor by a landslide in his heavily Democratic state in 1994. He was first elected to the office in 1990, defeating a conservative Democratic candidate, and quickly became one of Massachusetts' most popular governors in recent history.

While holding the line on spending and taxes, Weld as governor embraced liberal positions at odds with national Republicans on abortion and gay rights. His low-key style and sharp wit also seemed to play well with voters as did his penchant for the unexpected: He once ended a news conference touting progress in cleaning up Boston's polluted Charles River by diving fully clothed into the waterway.

After winning a second term, Weld's attention appeared to drift away the governor's office and toward other political pursuits. He briefly entertained a run for president in 1996 before mounting an unsuccessful campaign that year to unseat Democratic U.S. Sen. John Kerry.

He resigned as governor the following year after then-President Bill Clinton nominated him to be ambassador to Mexico, but it was a post he would never hold. Republican Sen. Jesse Helms of North Carolina refused to schedule a hearing on the nomination, claiming among other things that Weld's support for medical marijuana and needle exchange programs for drug users disqualified him from serving in Mexico because of that country's history of drug trafficking.

Weld fired back at Helms, suggesting it was un-American for Helms to refuse to hold a public hearing on a high-profile ambassadorial nomination.

Weld left the public arena but later moved to New York, where he would make a brief, unsuccessful bid to become the first person since Sam Houston to serve as governor of two different states.

Upon returning to Massachusetts, he joined ML Strategies, the lobbying arm of the high-powered law firm of Mintz Levin. His clients included Steve Wynn, the Las Vegas casino mogul whom Weld helped to win a coveted license from state regulators to operate a Boston-area casino. Wynn later left his company amid sexual misconduct allegations.

If he decides to launch a run for president as a Republican, he could be Trump's first challenger from within the party.

During the event, Weld also said Trump's priorities are "skewed" toward promoting himself and is simply "too unstable" to carry out the duties of his job.

Associated Press