When forced to pick between the two, former military prosecutor and candidate for U.S. Senate John Deaton said he’s more of a Charlie Baker than a Donald Trump.

According to the Republican candidate angling to unseat Democratic U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren as she seeks a third term representing the Bay State in Congress this fall, it would be more appropriate to say he’s a “John Deaton Republican, first and foremost,” but when asked to align himself with the former Massachusetts governor or the former U.S. President, Deaton picked Baker over Trump.

“There is no candidate that you can compare me to, with my life experience. If you forced me to pick a Republican, it would be Republican like Charlie Baker,” Deaton told WCVB. “A centrist, common sense Republican — fiscally conservative, socially moderate. But I’m my own person and I think I bring a lot of uniqueness to this race.”

Deaton, a retired U.S. Marine who moved to the Bay State from Rhode Island earlier this year but is originally from Detroit, Michigan, announced his intention to run against Warren in February. Earlier this month he was in the Secretary of the Commonwealth’s Elections Division offices to deliver the more-than 10,000 certified signatures required to join the ballot.

Deaton’s candidacy, he said in an interview that aired Sunday, does not necessarily have anything to do with the third race for the White House being mounted by presumptive-Republican-nominee Trump, but more to do with the senate seat’s current occupant.

“What I’m focused on is retiring Elizabeth Warren,” Deaton said.

Basing the lessons of the 2024 election entirely around Trump, he said, would be a mistake. It would be better to try and understand the “74 million Americans who voted for President Trump despite the four years of chaos or whatever else.”

“Why? Why did that happen? Why, if the race were today and the polls are right, would President Trump be the president? It’s because of this broken system, and 74 million Americans were not feeling represented,” he said.

Now a resident of Swansea and a mesothelioma lawyer and cryptocurrency advocate, the 56-year-old Deaton has described himself as unique among politicians, citing his impoverished upbringing and his service in the Marine Corps. This is his first political campaign.

He’s giving voters in Massachusetts, he said, a chance to vote for someone who “knows them, has been one of them, struggled with them in life, overcame poverty and all the other things I bring to the table.”

Deaton took a step away from many in his party when he agreed that the events of January 6, 2021, were an insurrection, and by describing the Capitol riot a “bad day in American politics, that’s for sure.”

President Joe Biden was elected fair and square in 2020, Deaton said, again putting distance between himself and many leading Republicans, including — perhaps especially — the 45th President.

Deaton faces opposition in the party primary, with Quincy City Council President Ian Cain also seeking the party nomination. Warren is running unopposed in the Democratic race.

Past polling has shown that Warren could be vulnerable in this election cycle, especially against an opponent along the veins of the previous Massachusetts governor. Baker, who did not seek reelection amid the rise of the MAGA movement, was often cited as the most popular governor in the country.

Despite chasing Baker out of the primary, the state Republican party’s nominee for governor last cycle, Geoff Diehl, lost his race by almost the same about 60% to 35% split by which he lost the last senate race against Warren, in 2018.

MassGOP Chairwoman Amy Carnevale, speaking with WBZ for an interview aired Sunday, said the party is focused on offering and supporting more viable candidates this time around.

“We’ll be contesting several of the congressional seats as well as the U.S. Senate seat,” she said. “We’re looking to add to our seats in the Legislature, all the while doing what we can to support our federal candidates as well.”

U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren