Governor Charlie Baker, the state’s most powerful Republican, has offered Massachusetts as a model for the way politics *should* be, saying our civility and pragmatism set us apart. But under new chair Jim Lyons, the Massachusetts GOP has moved in a very un-Baker-like direction, accusing Democrats of hating America and seeking to perpetrate infanticide.
So what’s driving the party’s shift? And is it a smart way to grow Republicans’ paltry presence (Baker notwithstanding) in Massachusetts politics? Adam Reilly and Peter Kadzis talk it through with Stephanie Murray of Politico, WGBH News’s own Mike Deehan, and Boston Broadside editor Lonnie Brennan, who’s bullish on Lyons’ approach.
