Why is Massachusetts much more likely to support GOP governors compared to CA and NY?

[Thank you for being a friend...]

1. Our state legislature is so Democratic that having a nice moderate Republican in there to balance it out is very desirable to a wide swath of the Massachusetts electorate.

2. MA is not nearly as hard-left as people think it is.  There are suburbs here with high income earning people and they aren't all fond of heavy tax burdens... lots of small blue-collar towns, and Republicans do very well in those areas...

3. There is a real willingness in Boston's big suburbs (which are enormous in swinging the whole state to flip one way or the other) to really support Charlie Baker types.  Charlie Baker is not unpopular at all here, and you will find many very progressive Democrats in Brookline or Cambridge talk about how benign this guy is.  He's not threatening really.  He has never done anything to antagonize people or ridicule groups he doesn't like.

I like the man too.  He's not at all like the national brand.