Massachusetts' anti-Trump GOP governor ends time in office

BOSTON (AP) — Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker, an anti-Trump Republican who easily won reelection four years ago, learned his earliest political lessons listening to his Democratic mother and Republican father hashing out the issues of the day.

“My parents were married for 60 years before my mom died and they never voted for the same person,” Baker, 66, told The Associated Press. “The dinner table was just a hilarious series of conversations about all kinds of things.”

Those listening skills — there was a reason he was given two ears and one mouth, his mother would say — proved critical as Baker, part of a tradition of socially moderate, fiscally conservative New England Republicans, took the helm of a liberal-leaning state dominated by Democrats in 2015.

Baker battled blizzards, a teetering public transit system and once-in-a-generation pandemic. He also drew the ire of former President Donald Trump by refusing to endorse or vote for the fellow Republican in 2016 and 2020. Trump in turn, laced into Baker, calling him a “RINO” or Republican In Name Only.

“Baker is bad on crime, disrespects our police, does nothing for our Veterans," Trump said in a 2021 email.

Baker is still reluctant to engage Trump directly, saying the GOP “has to make a decision going forward about how they want to handle that message and I hope they make the right one.” By necessity, Baker forged a bipartisan path. He could do little without Democrats.

“I’ve always thought this is a team sport. I’ve never felt like it worked if we thought about it purely through the lens of win-lose," said Baker. “The American public is nowhere as extreme as social media and the parties would lead you to believe."

As he prepared to leave office next week, the 6-foot-6-inch (2-meter) former Harvard basketball...