John Deaton wins early MassGOP endorsement in Senate race 

John Deaton secured a key endorsement Thursday from the Massachusetts Republican Party in his bid for U.S. Senate, giving him an edge over potential primary rivals despite losing his last Senate run.

Deaton, 58 and a resident of Bolton, is campaigning for the seat held by Sen. Ed Markey, a 79-year-old Democrat seeking a third term in office. The attorney and cryptocurrency advocate is making a run just a year after losing his challenge to Sen. Elizabeth Warren.

But at a Massachusetts Republican State Committee meeting Thursday night in Dedham, Deaton said he’d learned valuable lessons from his failed run against Warren.

“I'm telling you as I stand here tonight, I believe those mistakes were necessary to make in a race that I couldn't win — to learn and be a better candidate in a race that I can win. And I'm telling you we can win the Senate race,” Deaton told a room of Republicans.

Winning the state party’s support Thursday night could dissuade potential opponents from running against Deaton in the party’s primary and open up fundraising opportunities with national conservatives.

But the vote was preceded by a tense back-and-forth with a group of state committee members who argued it was too early in the election cycle to give Deaton the backing of the party.

Monica Medeiros Solano, a committee member who represents parts of Middlesex County, said it is “too soon” for the party to get involved in the race.

She said there is still a chance for people to pull papers to run for Senate.

“I think it's perhaps taking others away from getting involved, and that's not the message that I'd like to set or the precedent that I'd like to set,” she said during debate over the endorsement. “I fully support getting out there and doing things early, but I don't think it requires our vote as a state Republican Party.”

But Deaton told reporters that the endorsement “doesn’t prevent anyone from getting on the ballot.”

“A Republican can get on the ballot. Anybody can get on the ballot. It's just an endorsement of the members putting their faith in me to lead the fight against Ed Markey or any other out-of-touch Democrat that comes out of the primary,” he said.

Geoff Diehl, a former state representative who unsuccessfully ran for governor in 2022 and for U.S. Senate in 2018, said a primary fight can be detrimental, taking a Republican candidate “all the way to September until you can actually be free to start working on the campaign against the Democrats.”

Diehl noted that Markey is set to face a difficult primary challenge from U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton, a Salem Democrat, and potentially from U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley, who is reportedly considering a run for Markey’s seat.

“We have the advantage of actually getting a Republican to be launched sooner than the Democrat and make his case more effectively and over a longer period of time than the Democrats do,” Diehl said in the endorsement debate.

Todd Taylor, a state committee member who represents parts of Middlesex and Suffolk counties, said during debate that backing Deaton could lead to a profitable joint fundraising agreement between Deaton and national Republicans.

If an agreement is struck, Deaton also could help raise money for the cash-strapped Massachusetts Republican Party, which has faced a litany of legal issues and internal fights.

“That will not only help John Deaton, it will not only help the party, it will help every Republican running next year," Taylor told his colleagues. "So please, if you can't vote yes, at least abstain so we can get this done and get somebody slamming against Ed Markey.”

Deaton launched his campaign for Senate earlier this month, knocking Markey as “MIA” and arguing that Massachusetts is in “deep trouble” because of the high costs of housing, energy, and child care.

Two other men have floated potential Republican campaigns for Senate — Christopher Thrasher of Westport and Nathan Bech, a former town councilor from West Springfield.

But in a move that surprised some Republican state committee members Thursday night, Bech said he was resigning from his state committee seat and would run for Senate as an independent.

“I have things on my heart and on my mind. I fasted for 21 days. That's the longest I've ever fasted. Drank water, drank electrolyte water, no food, and I prayed. I prayed extensively about this. I am firm in this decision to make this run,” Bech said. “I will launch my campaign early next year.”

The decision left the state committee meeting in brief silence.

“I'm sorry to hear that news, and hope you think hard before you actually take that action because you've been a valued member of this committee,” MassGOP Chair Amy Carnevale said.