At the Libertarian Party's 2016 convention, former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld said he was a "Libertarian for life." | Molly Riley/AFP/Getty Images 2020 Elections Former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld exploring primary challenge against Trump

Former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld said on Friday that he is exploring a challenge to President Donald Trump for the Republican nomination in 2020.

“Our president is simply too unstable to carry out the duties of the highest executive office in the land,” Weld said as he announced the launch of an exploratory committee at Politics & Eggs in Bedford, N.H. The breakfast program is considered a must for 2020 hopefuls in the early voting state.


“I'm here because I think our country is in grave peril, and I cannot sit any longer quietly on the sidelines,” Weld added. “We have a president who openly praises and encourages despotic and authoritarian leaders abroad while going out of his way seemingly to insult and even humiliate our Democratic allies.”

Weld's most recent political bid was a 2016 run for vice president on the Libertarian ticket alongside former presidential candidate and New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson. By jumping in as the first Republican to possibly challenge Trump's reelection, Weld is likely to draw attention. The former governor currently works at ML Strategies, and took a leave from the Boston-based consulting firm in 2016 to campaign.

At the Libertarian Party's 2016 convention, Weld said he was a "Libertarian for life." He continued courting Libertarian groups after November, but appears to have done an about-face for 2020. Leading up to Friday's announcement, there was some speculation as to whether Weld would run as a Republican or a Libertarian. Just a week ago, Weld registered as a Republican, CommonWealth Magazine first reported.

Weld said the political moment is too urgent to stick with the Libertarian Party, which he said functions as a "protest vote" in the general election.

"That's a poser, that's an issue and people are entitled to take that into account. It's just, the stakes have gotten higher," Weld told reporters. Weld had voiced support for Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in the weeks leading up to the 2016 election, but told reporters on Friday he's not sure Clinton would have been a better president than Trump.

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Weld said he has been a "small L" libertarian for a long time, but said he can't "dribble around the court" when it comes to taking on Trump in 2020. "If you want to go one-on-one here it's got to be as an R," Weld said.

The former governor said many members of his 2016 Libertarian campaign are supporting him as a Republican. "A couple of people have said 'how dare you do this.' Five times as many have said 'We're with you,'" Weld said, adding he could see dozens of Libertarians who are fit to serve in senior positions in the federal government.

Ron Nielson, the Utah-based strategist who managed the Johnson campaign in 2016, told POLITICO he has been in contact with Weld over the phone in recent days. Nielson did not say whether he will be involved in Weld's 2020 campaign.

Weld said his entry into the 2020 race could open the floodgates for other GOP candidates, including former Ohio governor and 2016 Republican candidate John Kasich. For his part, Weld said he has plans to visit New Hampshire frequently, but did not say when he will visit other early-voting states.

During his speech in Bedford, Weld laid out a vision of returning the GOP to the "party of Lincoln." He had sharp words for its handling of the federal debt, and for the left-wing of the Democratic Party.

"We need the opposite of socialism in the federal budget. The two most important tasks are to cut spending and cut taxes," Weld said. He called for free trade, contracting social services to the private sector, managing college debt with free tuition for some displaced workers, and said the United States should rejoin the Paris Climate Agreement that Trump withdrew from in 2017. He also floated longer work visas for immigrants.

Weld became the Republican governor of Massachusetts in 1991, and was reelected to a second term in 1994 with 71 percent of the vote as a Republican in the deep blue state. Weld resigned his post in 1997 to become ambassador to Mexico, but was not confirmed. Weld also ran unsuccessfully against Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry in 1996 and for governor of New York in 2005.



