Photo by The Associated Press
In this April 27, 2016 file photo, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump gestures during a campaign stop in Indianapolis.
How will the 7.0 earthquake, better known as the 2016 Republican presidential primary process, change and shape local GOP politics?
The saga of Donald Trump’s political ascendancy and march toward the Republican nomination has featured more twists and turns than a good mystery novel. Will he or won’t he be nominated? That’s the question that keeps getting asked and is still months away from getting answered.
Trump has already made his mark in Massachusetts politics with a 49 percent win statewide in the March presidential primary. The blonde billionaire fell just short of winning a Republican majority. But he left his presidential rivals well behind him.
Two-thirds of Lynn Republicans who voted in the March primary chose Trump. These supporters included loyal members of the GOP, unenrolled voters who voted Republican in the primary and Democrats who jumped ship to join the Trump bandwagon.
Depending on who is doing the analyzing, Trump is either redefining, upending or killing the GOP. There is scant evidence to suggest he is giving Republican politics a grassroots injection of enthusiasm. No Republican has shown up to give City Council President Dan Cahill a challenge on his way to becoming East Lynn’s new state representative. In Saugus, Donald Wong, the Lynn delegation’s sole Republican, is facing a double threat from two energetic female Democratic women.
Contrast the relative lack of Republican activity with five years ago, not to mention 25 years ago when Republicans followed party redefiner Newt Gingrich into battle. Republicans emerged from the political woodwork in the early 1990s to run for state office locally and, more notably, at the state level with former Gov. Bill Weld and former Treasurer Joe Malone becoming party standard bearers.
The pair ushered in a decade of Republican domination that saw local candidates run for legislative and county seats without much success. The last interesting Republican runs for office were made by Christopher Dent in Nahant who took a stab at winning the local state senate seat and Wong’s election.
Once outspoken Republicans like Richard Tisei and Alexander Tennant are barely heard during this election season, possibly because Trump is drowning out almost all other voices except the ones belonging to his lead challengers.
Depending on how it all shakes out this summer, it will remain to be seen if local Republicans will surge forth to future election success on the momentum provided Trump and other national Republicans. Or if they will be left to wander through their party’s ruins, picking up the pieces and trying to reconstruct the party of Lincoln and Reagan.