Former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld is predicting he’ll beat President Donald Trump in the Utah Republican presidential primary on Super Tuesday next year.
“Making a primary challenge against a president historically has had an impact, and I do predict I will win the Utah primary against President Trump,” said Weld on CNN Saturday.
Weld, who won two terms as governor in Massachusetts in 1990 and 1994, is mounting a primary challenge to Trump next year for the GOP nomination. Trump finished third with just 14% of the vote in the 2016 Utah GOP nominating contest behind Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and former Ohio Governor John Kasich.
Utah voters will vote in the Republican and Democratic presidential primary elections on March 3 next year
Weld said he definitely has a path to defeat Trump for the Republican presidential nomination next year.
“This is real. The response on the ground, frankly, is that the president is not popular. Maybe he’s very popular with the Republican state committees, but that’s the Trump organization,” said Weld. “My strategy is not to try and charm them. It’s to enlarge the electorate, get those millenials and gen-xers.”
Weld says he’s planning on campaigning in states where Trump’s popularity is not as strong, particularly in California, the Intermountain West, and Utah.
Watch the clip below via CNN:
