Quotes from Charlie Baker

Massachusetts is a global community.

Our obligation to the people we serve is too important to place politics and partisanship before progress and results.

Bill Weld and Paul Cellucci are my political role models.

When leaders choose to burn bridges instead of build them, they sacrifice their ability to do their jobs.

Success is measured by what we accomplish together.

We need to root out the waste and abuse that is rampant in our state agencies. When we do that and grow the economy, we will be able to fund the vital programs and services we need.

You just can't get surprised when you get surprised, because weird stuff just comes over the transom all the time, and it's not necessarily anything that you've planned for or anticipated.

Competition in politics is just as important as competition in everything else.

We live in a great state filled with creative, community minded, hard-working, decent people. And what they want from us is opportunity, possibility and hope.

When my brothers and I were young, my mom, a Democrat, and my dad, a Republican, used to lead freewheeling discussions at our dinner table. The only rule was paying attention when others were talking, and no interrupting.

A strong Commonwealth is built on a foundation of strong communities. Friendly, welcoming, bustling neighborhoods and downtowns. Great schools. Safe, accessible, attractive places to play. Growing local economies. And a belief that anything is possible.

Former Gov. Weld is that kind of guy who you can't predict what his next move will be.

I do see great opportunity to make reforms to our tax code, making it simpler, fairer and removing corporate loopholes.

My mission will be to improve life across Massachusetts, including communities and geographies that are seeing a slower economic recovery. Lower and fairer taxes are an important part of creating jobs and accomplishing that goal.

I'm not going to raise taxes.

The biggest difference between the private sector and public sector is in the private sector, there's a sense of urgency because you have customers and you have competitors. Whereas in government, one of your major objectives is to not make any really big mistakes.

I'm a pro-choice candidate and I support marriage equality - my brother is actually gay and married. But I'm a pretty hard-headed guy when it comes to the budget and whether you're getting a bang for your buck.

This is Massachusetts, we're supposed to be one of the tech centers of the world. We have MIT within walking distance of the state house.

I've supported a lot of folks with a lot of points of view. But I have concerns about Mr. Trump's temperament. Some of the things he's said about women, Muslims and religious freedom, I just can't support.

There are a number of issues that I disagree vehemently with Mr. Trump on. I question whether he's got the temperament to serve as president.

I would argue that the charter schools are really good at building programming and curriculum around the issues and the interests of the kids that they serve.

There are very few people who work for me who are afraid to tell me what I don't want to hear.

I think our Republican brand is an effective one and I think it fits and works here in Massachusetts.

The thing I would say is governments have the tendency to over-promise and under-perform. So the over-promise part ends up sounding very aspirational. But it's the performance part that ultimately people feel every day and read about. And my goal is to make sure, whatever it is we aspire to, that we deliver on.