BOSTON Down in the polls, lagging in fundraising and blocked from the ballot in several states, former Republican Gov. Bill Weld isnt giving up on his long-shot bid to dethrone incumbent President Donald Trump in the upcoming GOP primaries.

Weld, 74, of Canton has been crisscrossing the state in the past week, visiting schools, food pantries, coffee shops and pizza parlors in a ground campaign to drum up votes ahead of the GOP primary. Despite the lopsided race, Weld said he is confident about his chances Tuesday when he will be on GOP ballots in several states, including Massachusetts.

Its a long shot, but this is a race that has to be run, Weld said during a visit Wednesday with the North of Boston Media Group editorial board. Donald Trump is an existential threat to the nation.

Weld is not well known nationally but is widely respected among veterans in the Republican establishment, and he has been highly critical of Trumps presidency.

He is a believer in free markets, global trade and the international order. He argues that Trump has abandoned the principles that have guided the GOP since President Ronald Reagan.

They keep calling me the RINO (Republican in name only), but Trump is the real RINO, Weld said. He has turned the Republican Party into his own personal cult.

On the campaign trail, Weld has talked about putting a price on carbon emissions to address climate change, reducing the deficit and restoring American diplomacy.

Generally recognized

Weld was first elected governor in 1990, defeating a conservative Democratic candidate, and hes been called one of Massachusetts most popular governors in recent history. In 1994, voters re-elected him by the widest margin for the governors office in state history, nearly 71%.

Two years after that, he mounted a campaign to unseat incumbent Democratic Sen. John Kerry but fell short. He left the governors office a year later when President Bill Clinton named him U.S. ambassador to Mexico.

Weld hasnt strayed far from the political stage in the years since he ran for governor of New York in 2005 and 2006. Four years ago, he ran on the Libertarian Partys presidential ticket as former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnsons running mate. They received about 4.5 million votes, or a little more than 3% of the national popular vote.

Next week, Welds name will appear on the statewide Republican primary ballot as a challenger to Trump but only because Secretary of State Bill Galvin, a Democrat, put it there.

Last year, when Weld declared his intention to run against Trump, state Republican Party Chairman Jim Lyons compared him to the infamous traitor Benedict Arnold.

Lyons cited Welds endorsement of President Barack Obama over Sen. John McCain for president in the 2008 elections and his race as the Libertarian vice presidential candidate in 2016.

State law allows the states top election official to unilaterally put a candidate on the primary ballot if the candidate is generally advocated or recognized a low bar for a former Republican governor.

Weld says the effort to keep him off the ballot in his home state is part of a national strategy by the Trump campaign to crush potential challengers.

Hes been kept off the ballot in seven states, including this weekends contest in South Carolina, after GOP officials there canceled the primary and endorsed Trumps re-election.

GOP officials in those states have pointed out that incumbent presidents seeking re-election have a long history of canceling primaries and note that doing so saves money.

Small budget

Weld hasnt exactly presented a serious challenge to Trump so far. He received about 9% of the vote in New Hampshires first-in-the-nation primary. He picked up one GOP delegate in the Iowa caucuses, where he got 426 votes.

His campaign hasnt been helped by Gov. Charlie Baker, a Republican who has described Weld as a political mentor. Baker, who isnt a fan of Trump, has been tight-lipped about who he is supporting in the presidential race.

Weld said he understands Bakers reticence. Getting involved could backfire on the state, he said, if Trump seeks revenge.

It would hurt the commonwealth because federal funding would suddenly disappear, he said.

Weld has also struggled with fundraising. He has reported about $1.8 million in contributions since he entered the race, including a $250,000 personal loan.

As of Jan. 31, he only had about $18,000 left in his campaign account.

By comparison, the Republican National Committee and Trumps campaign have raised more than $525 million since January 2019 between two joint-fundraising committees.

Nonfactor

Local Republican officials say support for Trump is strong in Massachusetts and they shrug off suggestions that Weld has any chances of unseating the president, despite his popularity as governor.

Republican voters are happy with the way the economy is going and with the direction of the country, said Amy Carnevale, chairwoman of the Marblehead Republican Town Committee and a delegate for Trump at the Republican National Convention. The fact that voters turned out in record numbers in New Hampshire for the president is a clear indication of the enthusiasm.

Carnevale called Weld a nonfactor whose flirtations with other parties, not to mention Democrats, have squandered any good will he once had with GOP voters.

Most Republicans have written him off as a serious candidate, she said. I dont think hell get much support.

Rep. Lenny Mirra, a West Newbury Republican, voted for Weld as governor and reached across the isle to vote for the Johnson/Weld ticket in 2016, but said hes staying out of the current presidential race.

He said the former governor still has political chops but suggests his decision to run as a Libertarian hurt his support among conservative Republican voters.

He was enormously popular as governor, and I voted for him every time he ran, Mirra said. But I just dont see a lot of support for him this time around.

Christian M. Wade covers the Massachusetts Statehouse for North of Boston Media Groups newspapers and websites.

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Weld makes long-shot bid to unseat Trump - The Daily News of Newburyport