BOSTON (AP) - An aide to former Gov. Mitt Romney is the latest Republican stepping up to challenge Democratic U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren.
Beth Lindstrom said in a video message posted Monday that she was “all in” for the 2018 race and promised a more formal rollout of her campaign in the fall.
Lindstrom, describing herself as an “independent-minded Republican,” said there was plenty of blame to go around for the inaction on major issues in Washington.
“Don’t get me wrong. There is a time and a place for arguing your point of view,” Lindstrom said. “But eventually we have to stop finger-pointing and solve the problem.”
Warren, who has built a national base among Democrats and is frequently mentioned as a potential White House contender in 2020, is seeking a second term in the Senate. She has been a harsh and outspoken critic of President Donald Trump and his administration.
Lindstrom made no mention of Trump in the video, but in a separate statement she promised to oppose Trump “when he’s wrong” and criticized the president’s response to the violence at an Aug. 12 protest at a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, that left a woman dead and others injured.
Lindstrom, a Groton resident, served as director of consumer affairs and business regulations under Romney and later as executive director of the Massachusetts Lottery.
Romney was Massachusetts’ governor from 2005 to 2009 and the 2012 GOP nominee for president.
Lindstrom has long been active in Massachusetts Republican politics and became the first woman to serve as the party’s state director.
Other Republicans vying for the nomination to oppose Warren include state Rep. Geoff Diehl of Whitman, who served as co-chairman of Trump’s campaign in Massachusetts, and Shiva Ayyadurai, a Cambridge technology entrepreneur.
John Kingston, a business executive from Winchester, is also weighing a run.
The GOP faces a formidable task in trying to unseat Warren, who told The Associated Press in a recent interview that she was not running for president and was taking nothing for granted in her re-election campaign.
Warren begins the race with a hefty fundraising advantage, having amassed $11 million in her campaign account through the end of June. Diehl reported $260,000 and Ayyadurai $28,000 in their respective campaign accounts through that same time period, according to Federal Election Commission records.
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