Republican gubernatorial hopeful Christy Mihos, whose candidacy has been hurt by reports of campaign finance violations and squabbles with staff, predicted yesterday that he would get the necessary 15 percent of delegate support at next week’s state GOP convention to qualify for the party’s September primary ballot.
“I fully intend to get the 15 percent,’’ he told a Suffolk University forum.
Mihos said a hard-fought, “issue-oriented’’ primary contest with his GOP rival, Charles D. Baker, would be a big boost for the Republican Party and its efforts to stage a comeback in the November election.
“It would put the focus on all of our candidates,’’ Mihos said.
Republicans will gather in Worcester April 17 to endorse a slate of candidates for the state’s constitutional offices. Baker, the former chief executive of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, is heavily favored to win the party endorsement over Mihos.
In recent weeks, Mihos, who presents himself as a Beacon Hill outsider who would hold state government accountable on fiscal management, has faced questions about his viability. The state Office of Campaign and Political Finance is reviewing his financial records following Globe reports that he used personal funds to directly pay for campaign expenses. He has also seen heavy staff turnover.
Mihos, a wealthy businessman who is financing his candidacy, acknowledged that his fund-raising has been “lackluster’’ but adds that he is not the favorite of special interests.
A poll taken this week by Rasmussen Reports, a national survey firm, reflects Mihos’s problem in persuading the party that he is viable. In a general election matchup with Governor Deval Patrick and independent Timothy P. Cahill, the state treasurer, Mihos gets only 15 percent of the vote as the GOP nominee, compared with Patrick at 38 percent and Cahill at 33 percent. Baker, if he were the nominee, would get 27 percent, with Patrick at 35 percent and Cahill at 23 percent.
At the forum, Mihos lauded Patrick for his recent move to freeze health insurance premiums for small businesses. He said his company has just received a huge rate increase for its plan, and he used the issue to try to link Baker’s support of the state’s 2006 universal health care law to the new national plan, which Baker has said he opposes.
