John Deaton, the Republican running for the seat held by Sen. Ed Markey next year, officially earned the endorsement of the Massachusetts Republican Party this week.

The endorsement appears likely to clear the primary field of other potential Republican challengers, allowing Deaton to focus his campaign on attacking Democrats and winning over the wider electorate. Deaton ran as a moderate against Sen. Elizabeth Warren last year, eventually losing with only 40% of the vote to Warren’s 60%. The early embrace of Deaton once again shows that the MassGOP remains more confident in his brand of politics at the statewide level, compared to other potential candidates that may have run further to the right and appealed to ardent supporters of President Donald Trump.

MassGOP confirmed the endor

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