On February 15, 2019, former Massachusetts Governor Bill Weld announced the formation of an exploratory committee to consider running for the

Republican nomination Presidential primaries have been held in the United States since 1912 to nominate the Republican presidential candidate. 1912 This was the first time that candidates were chosen through primaries. President William Taft ran to become the nomi ...

in the

2020 United States presidential election The 2020 United States presidential election was the 59th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 3, 2020. The Democratic ticket of former vice president Joe Biden and the junior U.S. senator from California Kamala Ha ...

. On April 15, 2019 Weld officially announced he would be running for president, challenging incumbent Donald Trump. Weld previously was the 2016 Vice Presidential nominee of the Libertarian Party on the Gary Johnson ticket. Weld suspended his campaign on March 18, 2020. He subsequently endorsed Democratic nominee Joe Biden for president.

February 2019 launch

On February 15, 2019, Weld officially announced the formation of an exploratory committee in preparing to run for the

2020 Republican Party presidential primaries Presidential primaries and caucuses of the Republican Party took place in many U.S. states, the District of Columbia, and five U.S. territories from February 3 to August 11, 2020, to elect most of the 2,550 delegates to send to the Republica ...

. He appeared on both Bloomberg News and MSNBC's ''

Morning Joe ''Morning Joe'' is an American morning news and liberal talk show, airing weekdays from 6:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time Zone, Eastern Time on the cable news channel MSNBC. It features former Republican Congressman Joe Scarborough r ...

'' the next day. On ''Morning Joe'', he criticized Donald Trump as president, with a focus especially on what he labeled bad

foreign policy A State (polity), state's foreign policy or external policy (as opposed to internal or domestic policy) is its objectives and activities in relation to its interactions with other states, unions, and other political entities, whether bilaterall ...

in regards largely to North Korea and Russia. On April 15, 2019, Weld officially announced his candidacy for the Republican nomination during an appearance on '' The Lead with Jake Tapper''. Weld's campaign was managed by

Jennifer Horn Jennifer Mary Horn (born June 22, 1964) is an American politician. She was a two-time challenger for New Hampshire's 2nd congressional district. She won the Republican nomination in 2008 and became the first woman nominated by the Republican Par ...

, the former chair of the

New Hampshire Republican State Committee The New Hampshire Republican State Committee is the affiliate of the United States Republican Party in New Hampshire. Its executive committee is headed by Chairman Stephen Stepanek. Current elected officials The New Hampshire Republican Party ho ...

and also includes

Stuart Stevens Stuart Stevens is an American travel writer and political consultant. He was the cofounder of Washington, D.C. - based political media consultancy Stevens & Schriefer Group (with Russell Schriefer). In 2013, he became a founding pa ...

, a top strategist for

Mitt Romney's 2012 presidential campaign The 2012 presidential campaign of Mitt Romney officially began on June 2, 2011, when former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney formally announced his candidacy for the Republican Party nomination for President of the United States, at an event ...

. On March 18, 2020, Weld suspended his campaign.

Political positions

Abortion

In May 2019, Weld described himself as "the most pro-choice person you’re ever going to meet." He said that recent abortion laws passed by states, such as Alabama's

Human Life Protection Act The Human Life Protection Act, also known as House Bill 314 (HB 314) and the Alabama abortion ban, is an Alabama statute enacted on May 15, 2019, that imposes a near-total ban on abortion in the state. Set to go into effect in November 2019, ...

, left him feeling "terrible". As governor of Massachusetts, Weld introduced a bill increasing ease of access to abortion in the state. In the 1990s, he publicly fought for removing

anti-abortion Anti-abortion movements, also self-styled as pro-life or abolitionist movements, are involved in the abortion debate advocating against the practice of abortion and its legality. Many anti-abortion movements began as countermovements in respons ...

language from the Republican Party platform, despite opposition from social conservatives.

Drugs

Weld believes that drug use should not be a criminal offense. Weld has also called for federal decriminalization of marijuana and the lowering of the drinking age.

LGBT rights

Weld has been a consistent supporter of LGBT rights, and the right to same-sex marriage.

Economy

Weld has described himself as fiscally conservative, with goals of reducing spending and balancing the budget. For this reason, he has been described as a " classic conservative". He has proposed to drastically reduce

military spending A military budget (or military expenditure), also known as a defense budget, is the amount of financial resources dedicated by a state to raising and maintaining an armed forces or other methods essential for defense purposes. Financing milit ...

, withdraw American forces from foreign engagements, and refocus American politics on domestic issues primarily.

Education

Weld has been a supporter of

charter schools A charter school is a school that receives government funding but operates independently of the established state school system in which it is located. It is independent in the sense that it operates according to the basic principle of autono ...

, having established the first twenty-five Massachusetts charter schools as governor.

Environment

Weld challenged Trump on the issue of climate disruption, saying that he had made no effort to combat the effects of global warming. "We've got the polar ice cap that's going to melt with devastating consequences if we don’t get carbon out of the atmosphere," Weld told " America's Newsroom," nothing that he would plan ahead for an "environmental catastrophe." Weld supported rejoining the 2015

Paris Agreement The Paris Agreement (french: Accord de Paris), often referred to as the Paris Accords or the Paris Climate Accords, is an international treaty on climate change. Adopted in 2015, the agreement covers climate change mitigation, Climate change a ...

, making the United States carbon neutral by 2050, and a carbon fee and dividend program. On Monday, April 15, 2019, Weld formally announced his candidacy for President of the United States on '' The Lead with Jake Tapper''. Weld received 1.3% of the vote in the Iowa caucuses and one pledged delegate on February 3.

Impeachment

On October 26, 2019, it was reported that while speaking at Tufts University, Weld suggested that Trump might not even appear on the 2020 ballot. Weld noted that choosing a secret vote about impeachment is an option available to the Senate, and that former Senator

Jeff Flake Jeffry Lane Flake (born December 31, 1962) is an American politician and diplomat who is the current U.S Ambassador to Turkey. A member of the Republican Party, Flake served in the United States House of Representatives from 2001 to 2013 and ...

suggested that a secret vote in the process could shield senators effectively from adverse political reactions by the "Trump base", thereby freeing them to vote for conviction. Weld estimated that under those circumstances, 30 to 35 votes to convict would be attained easily and that only 20 were needed.

2020 campaign developments

February 2020

*February 3: Weld wins 1.3% of the votes in the Iowa caucuses and one delegate to the

Republican National Convention The Republican National Convention (RNC) is a series of presidential nominating conventions held every four years since 1856 by the United States Republican Party. They are administered by the Republican National Committee. The goal of the Repu ...

. *February 11: Weld wins 9.1% of the votes in the

New Hampshire primary The New Hampshire presidential primary is the first in a series of nationwide party primary elections and the second party contest (the first being the Iowa caucuses) held in the United States every four years as part of the process of choosi ...

March 2020

* March 3: Weld wins 10.1% of the votes in the Vermont Primary, his best performance of any state. * March 3: Weld wins 1.52% of the vote in Alabama Primary. *March 18: Weld suspends his campaign.

Endorsements

References

External links

Official campaign website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bill Weld 2020 presidential campaign Weld Bill Weld