The Inexplicable Candidacy of Deval Patrick

What if I told you that a former Massachusetts governor and Harvard graduate was entering the 2020 Presidential race? This former governor not only worked for Bain Capital but is also accepting Super Pac money in his quest for the presidency. Based on this description, you would think that current Utah Senator Mitt Romney (R) must be running a quixotic bid to unseat Donald Trump, right? Well, unfortunately for many Democrats, and some Republicans, this is not the case. Instead, the mystery candidate is former Massachusetts’s governor and Bain Capital alum, Deval Patrick.

Deval Patrick’s candidacy is downright baffling. There’s simply no path forward for him to win the nomination. Not only did he enter the race well after all the major contenders, but his policy positions do nothing to set him apart. While Patrick has a liberal profile, he doesn’t have any signature policies that truly stand out. Patrick’s path to victory is equivalent to the odds of successfully crossing the Tongass Narrows on Alaska’s Bridge to Nowhere. Put simply, there is no path. 

Time and time again, Patrick refused to enter the 2020 race for president. In December of 2018, Patrick cited the “cruelty of our elections process” as a reason for why he would not run. With this message, it appeared that Patrick would stay as a managing director at Bain Capital and forego a run at the presidency. As Hillary Clinton showed, the transition from an elected official to the private sector and then back to running for public office is a difficult endeavor. Deval Patrick’s political journey was seemingly over. Just under a year later, Patrick has apparently had a change of heart. 

To be frank, Deval Patrick will be a non-factor in the Democrat Primary. Despite Patrick’s insistence that Democrat voters are not satisfied with the current crop of candidates, this largely appears to be untrue. By most accounts, Democrat voters believe that the current field of primary candidates is satisfactory and many have already chosen their preferred candidate. There is little room for a candidate who is supposedly learning the presidential campaign on the fly and is clamoring for Super Pac money to bail him out.

Patrick's team has insisted that he would be a major threat to Joe Biden in South Carolina due to his relationships with the African American community and brilliant personality. Patrick’s team has also insinuated that because Patrick is African American, he will near automatically receive their support. This belief is simply not rooted in reality. Cory Booker, despite his strong debate performances, charisma and over $6 million raised in the third quarter of 2019, is barely registering above 2% in South Carolina. This puts Booker below the likes of Tom Steyer and Andrew Yang in the polls. If Cory Booker, who entered the race fairly early on February 1, 2019, can’t rile up the support of African Americans then Deval Patrick stands no chance of doing so either. 

Patrick must also deal with the lingering questions about his time at Bain Capital. Mitt Romney, in 2012, was lambasted by Democrats and everyone in between for closing down businesses while working for Bain Capital. Deval Patrick, due to his association with the firm, will face these same questions. 

Deval Patrick could have been a threat if he had entered the Democrat race in the winter or spring of 2019. The former Massachusetts governor does have a successful gubernatorial record and a deep personal story that could have drawn in voters earlier in the campaign. Instead, Patrick’s campaign will almost certainly belong in a footnote next to Joe Sestak and Steve Bullock as a failed 2020 Presidential candidate. Patrick’s late entry into the campaign and his time at Bain Capital have already doomed his already miniscule chance of being the Democrat nominee in 2020.