Republican Massachusetts gubernatorial candidate Geoff Diehl, a supporter of former President Donald Trump who has said in the past that he felt the 2020 election was "stolen," acknowledged during Wednesday's NBC10 Boston governor's debate that President Joe Biden won the election.
"Obviously Joe Biden won the election. Look at how bad the economy is right now," Diehl said. "The fact of the matter is I had concerns with the election nationally."
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He said in Massachusetts alone, there were thousands of voters who attempted to vote by mail and in person.
"I felt like there was potential for election fraud."
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When asked again if he believes Biden won the 2020 election, Diehl nodded.
"Look, I think everybody understands the stakes of what Joe Biden's presidency is," he said. "We're now focused on 2024 and correcting the mistake of a president that clearly lost control of the economy, lost control of foreign policy."
PHOTOS: Healey, Diehl Take Part in Gubernatorial Debate
Diehl, a former campaign co-chairman for Trump, was also asked if he's learned anything about Trump in the wake of the Jan. 6 commission hearings and the FBI raid on Mar-a-Lago.
"Obviously that's something that never should have happened," he said of the Jan. 6 riots. But he said there has been very little focus on demonstrations across the country in the wake of George Floyd's death. "Tremont Street had a police cruiser on fire."
He specifically took issue with a quote from Healey around that time, where she said, "Yes, America's burning, but that's how forests grow."
Healey responded by acknowledging that it was "maybe a poor choice of words," while adding that it was really a metaphor for the need to work on things.
"I want to be clear with voters. I hope you vote for me. My opponent has said recently that he backs Donald Trump 100% of the time... He wants to bring Trumpism to Massachusetts. Those are values we have rejected time and time again. I want to be really clear with voters about what is on the line and how high stakes this election is."
