Massachusetts GOP Abandons a Candidate [OPINION]

State Rep. Keiko Orrall is running on the Republican ticket for the office of State Treasurer. She is a great candidate, but she has been abandoned by her party.

Lakeville Republican Keiko Orrall has proven herself as a strong campaigner and a proven vote-getter. She actually represented the Democrat stronghold of New Bedford until her district was changed by the legislature. The last Republican to represent New Bedford was Ralph Saulnier, Sr., and that was in the 1960’s. She defeated a union man with a strong campaign to stay in the legislature.

Rep. Orrall served four terms in the Massachusetts House of Representatives. She is the first Asian American woman elected to the House, and the first to run for a Constitutional office in the Commonwealth. She is a married mother of two and a graduate from Smith College. She is the granddaughter of Japanese immigrants. Her father served in the United States Marines and two of her uncles earned the Purple Heart for combat injuries in World War II.

Keiko has also earned the distinction of being elected by the members of Massachusetts Republican State Committee to a seat on the National Republican Committee. Each state GOP elects one woman and one man to the national body. The male from Massachusetts is Ron Kaufman, a political heavyweight and a confidant of the Bush family and Mitt Romney. His female equal on the RNC is Lakeville’s representative.

Keiko is an attractive and articulate candidate. She has boundless energy and doesn’t shrink from the hard work it takes to win as a Republican in heavily Democratic Massachusetts. She not only has the energy and the brains, but she also has the track record of an election winner.

And she is running on the same ticket with Gov. Charlie Baker, the most popular governor in America. He has nearly unlimited financial and political resources and his Democrat opponent has been abandoned by his party.

But the financial resources just haven’t developed for Keiko this cycle. There are no Republican super PAC millions for her like there are for Charlie Baker. She is running on a shoestring budget against a Democrat incumbent who is wealthy enough to self-finance a presidential campaign, never mind a statewide race in Massachusetts.

Keiko gave up a safe job (her husband is running to replace her) to join the GOP ticket, and she is getting zero support.

Chris McCarthy is the host of The Chris McCarthy Show on 1420 WBSM New Bedford. He can be heard weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon. Contact him at chris.mccarthy@townsquaremedia.com and follow him on Twitter @Chris_topher_Mc. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.