“I have decided to run for the US Senate because this fight is too important,” Markey said in a statement to the Globe. “There is so much at stake.”
… [In] a frisky announcement statement, Markey signaled he is prepared for a hard-swinging campaign for US Senate, defending several traditional liberal positions.
“With Senator Kerry’s departure, Massachusetts voters will decide once again whether we want a Senator who will fight for all our families or one who supports a Republican agenda that benefits only the powerful and well-connected,” Markey said. “I refuse to allow the Tea Party-dominated Republican Party to lead us off the fiscal cliff and into recession. I won’t allow the [National Rifle Association] to obstruct an assault weapons ban yet again. I will not sit back and allow oil and coal industry lobbyists to thwart our clean energy future or extremists to restrict women’s rights and health care.”
I think Markey’s ready to take the fight to Scott Brown, if that’s necessary. He’s been a fighter on climate and consumer issues for ages. The big question is whether he can put together and leverage a grassroots door-knocking operation statewide a la Liz and Deval.
As I’ve said, I’m a supporter. I don’t usually make early endorsements, since the primary process can clarify the strengths and weaknesses of a candidate. But I have a strong sense that like Elizabeth Warren vis a vis inequality and financial reform, Markey is a guy whose issue strengths have come to the fore now, whose moment has arrived.
I like McGovern a ton. Ben Downing too. Capuano’s OK; Lynch much less so. Roller-derby: GO.
hlpeary says
Rep. Ed Markey would be one weak Dem. standard bearer…he has not lived in MA. for decades and is unknown outside of his own district (and even there he is a distant memory)…Brown will make him into the poster boy for beltway insider politics, and who could argue? …he is a dull stump speaker to boot…lordy, lordy, lordy…Ed should count his blessings and stay put.
oceandreams says
Markey has appeared multiple times in Framingham of late. I’ve seen him around a hell of a lot more than I ever saw Scott Brown show up in Framingham or have a single event, campaign or otherwise, here.
And Markey does show up on national news shows from time to time, moreso than most of our other members of Congress with the obvious exception of Barney Frank. People who are paying attention – admittedly not the majority but the most likely primary voters – have seen him.
As for stump speaking, you do remember we’re talking about John Kerry’s seat, yes? Exactly how exciting is he, stump-speechifying-wise?
No, I wouldn’t recommend Markey as a presidential candidate (nor did I think Kerry was a good idea either). But for Senate? Yup.
bluetoo says
As one who lives in Markey’s congressional district, I think he would be a poor choice to take on Scott Brown. Markey votes right; but that’s about it. He is not visible in the district at all, and on the rare occasion that he is, he is rather arrogant and aloof. He is the consummate political insider, he’s a dull speaker, a lousy retail politician, and I am afraid that even Scott Brown could make mincemeat out of him. I don’t see him as someone who could excite the Democratic base at all. I hope I’m wrong, but I just don’t see it.
It’s really distressing to me that after Elizabeth Warren’s tremendously exciting victory in November, we may still wind up with Scott Brown in the Senate. Very depressing.
ramuel-m-raagas says
I am glad that Congressman Markey has been around our town. I saw him in Sudbury, but have missed his Framingham appearances.
On TV, I have only seen our Congressmen Markey and Frank on MSNBC.
Senator Scott Brown has been visible in Framingham.
Anyway, I hope that our Congressmen get back to Washington, D.C. to work on their fiscal task. The general public chatted more about the Mayan calendar than the fiscal cliff.
MoveOn.org held candles in Boston to express their concern about the latter this afternoon, but I had to work. After work, I saw an elected Democrat in another town, but he works only at the state level.
What shall I do tomorrow? What I shall do for the days leading up to Monday?
bluewatch says
Ed Markey’s heart is in the right spot. He has the courage to take progressive stands on those issues that are critically important to all of us.
Most importantly, Ed is a real fighter. He works hard, and he fights hard. I would love to see debates between Ed and Scottie.
I am enthusiastically supporting Ed Markey for Senate.
centralmassdad says
I guess I don’t know the first thing about Markey, and wouldn’t recognize him if he said hello, so I should let things play out a bit.
But I do note that Massachusetts “establishment” Democrats have fared poorly in statewide elections for quite some time, and that the two candidates who have succeeded–Gov. Patrick and Senator Warren– came from outside the state convention club.
I guess it is far too early to jump to any conclusions here though.
Someone from Congressman Markey’s district may know: when was the last time he had a real honest-to-goodness fight in an election?
jim-gosger says
The question is not whether or not he has good positions or even good knowledge about important issues. It’s whether or not he can beat Brown. All congressional candidates have the same issue in that they are relatively unknown and unproven outside their districts (Capuano perhaps excepted). If he comes across as an old school insider, he will not win independent votes and he will lose. I’m looking for someone who is both progressive and electable. Haven’t found one yet.
centralmassdad says
I’m not sure that “can he beat Brown” is a particularly relevent question for me; if Dems nominate someone that would not be as good a Senator as Brown, then I will vote for Brown, as I did in the last special election.
I am by nature suspicious of “insider” politicians, whom I generally view as machine politicians. I am also suspicious when there isn’t a bit of a fistfight at the primary level– though that suspicion proved quite unfounded in the just-concluded election.
I guess time will tell, and we will learn whether Markey has “it” or not.
And away we go!
oceandreams says
He blamed his loss to Martha Coakley on lack of name recognition.
centralmassdad says
rather than the last one, having achieved some name recognition by running in the primary for the special.
bluewatch says
When she first ran, most people in Massachusetts never heard of Elizabeth Warren, either.
Here’s some things to know about Ed
1. He was born and raised in Malden, Massachusetts.
2. He is a catholic who went to parochial schools and graduated from Boston College.
3. He has an excellent Congressional track record. He is the author of the American Clean Energy and Security Act.
Most importantly, he can win!
I support Ed!
oceandreams says
… have been those who came up through the local and state office ranks. O’Brien. Harshbarger. Coakley. I’m not sure that applies for those who have been in Washington for quite awhile already.
Market has long been in a heavily Democratic district, so there hasn’t been much competition. Probably the last serious challenger I remember is former Middlesex County Sheriff Brad Bailey. Markey campaigned seriously and he won 64-36.
Framingham, by the way, has moved around quite a bit, district-wise, from Shannon to Frank to Markey and the 7th.
If someone appears from outside the “establishment” who looks like a great candidate, I’m certainly open to entertaining that, having supported both Deval Patrick and Elizabeth Warren early on. However, you’ve got to keep in mind that the compressed time frame of a special election isn’t going to allow for the kind of grassroots campaign-building that both of them conducted.
Jack Mitchell says
I will not vote for you in the Primary.
Two words: “People’s Seat.”
jconway says
Warren was able to convince a decent pocket of lunch pail voters to abandon Brown and stick it to Wall Street with her. Markey for better or worse has a moderate record on defense and foreign policy, a solid progressive record on the environment and choice which aligns with the general electorate, and economic populism so he can avoid the elitist tag that doomed Coakley and
gregroa says
… I will support him in the special election. He’s a decent policy guy, but 9 out of 10 typical Democratic voters west of 495 have never heard of him.
Presently I will support the brightest Democrat of the non-Baby Boomer generation that I have come across – my state senator, Ben Downing.
If Ben chooses to run, I hope that he impresses those on the other side of Worcester as much as he has impressed us out here in the Berkshires. Regardless of this race, keep your eye on him for future statewide office. He personifies the best of public service.
stomv says
Seriously — how many Democratic voters live west of 495 (as opposed to east)? I’d bet it’s a relatively small fraction — lots of reddish turf between 495 and western mass, and as blue as western mass is, they’ve only got about 10% of the state’s population. So, seriously: what fraction of typical Democratic voters live west of 495?
stomv says
I need to stop using the word seriously. For serious.
Charley on the MTA says
And in any event … *That’s why you campaign.*
gregroa says
State is 6.6 million.
1/3rd is not a small fraction. Markey has good resources, but he has never had to use them statewide. This state can be fickle as we have discovered all too often over the past 20 years.
If Downing announces, I’m happy to make Markey my second choice.
stomv says
I’ve seen Boston Metro include all of RI and half of NH. Metro Boston is a mushy line — the highway isn’t. Any idea on numbers for inside and outside 495 itself?
centralmassdad says
My own view is that we west-of-495 voters are not Democratic voters in that we are entirely unimpressed by the letter in parentheses next to a candidate’s name. The (D) next to Candidate Whodat is as likely to mean “coming to pick your pocket to build something in Boston” as it is to convey ideological meaning.
Candidates like Sen Warren, who at least attempt to disguise the attitude displayed by you toward every town that lacks a T stop, can be successful (I don’t think the governor counts, because the Lt Gov did all the heavy lifting), but candidates who expect that OF COURSE they’ll vote for me, I’m a Democrat will get Browned.
pogo says
…vote like they live in Cambridge. With the possible exception of Worcester/Springfield and the Fitchburg / Gardener RT belt, western ma Dems are among the most liberal in the state. Franklin and Berkshire Counties, along with “Happy Valley” areas that make up Amherst and Northampton as a liberal as Massachusetts voters get.
stomv says
I was responding to a specific comment…
… by asking how many of those folks there are. Legitimate question. I suspect that it’s not very many, and it helps to explain why folks in Central and Western Mass feel ignored. It’s two components
(1) there are fewer people there, but perhaps more importantly
(2) there are substantially fewer “typical Democratic voters” there,
the second point of which you emphatically agree, based on your post. So, if lots of political positions in MA are decided in a primary, it’s no surprise that the purple land just outside of 495 and the very sparsely populated Western Mass don’t get the kind of attention that the urban Boston area gets — in chasing both “typical Democratic votes” and typical Democratic dollars, that’s where to find the most of ’em.
I’m not suggesting that an elected official who represents areas outside of 495 should ignore them. On the contrary, their needs are important. My point is that, as a candidate, the goal is to maximize the chances of getting at least one more vote than the other guy or gal. That’s it. Not treating every city and town fairly, not visiting the inside of every arbitrarily bordered 15 square miles.
If I were Markey running in the primary for Senate, I’d run up huge numbers in my CD and try to drive up huge numbers in Boston metro and Western MA. Depends on which other Dems are in the race (Capuano and Lynch), do you pick their pockets in their CD aggresively or not? Dunno. I’d go out West and get what I could, but wouldn’t waste lots of 3 hour clips driving back and forth. And yes, I’d skip over an awful lot of the outside-495 turf. It’s just not fertile ground for a Dem primary. Lots of work for less reward. I wouldn’t ignore it completely — every vote counts the same and I’d take what I could get with low expenditure of time or money — but I wouldn’t focus on “winning” that area.
Now, for the general election, that’s a totally different story with a very different dynamic. Where to get votes then? Sure, run up the totals in Boston Metro and Western Mass, Springfield, and Worcester. Then, have a look at Coakley’s numbers and Warren’s numbers, and figure out where the fertile towns are that are left, and go after them hard. I suspect that includes a nice chunk of outside-495, but I haven’t crunched the numbers, so I have no idea.
P.S. As for my “attitude”, it only comes up when somebody from non-Boston complains that Boston gets too much and they get too little. Could be attention, but usually it’s money from the government. They ignore the reality that Boston metro is what drives the tax revenue, and has a lower cost of public service *per person* than folks in the exurbs due, simply due to density.
mike_cote says
He may as well run as a Rethuglican, he is a humungous DINO and as I did when the repellant John Silber won the primary, I voted for Weld.
Lynch is the surest way to drive people away from the Democrats!
Al says
I think the reason why he stayed out of the race the last time was because he couldn’t generate enough interest to even participate in the Democratic primaries. There’s no reason to think that anything is different this time around.
methuenprogressive says
“We need a Senator who will work with President Obama, and anyone else, to move our country and our Commonwealth forward.”
‘and anyone else’?
You mean republicans? No thank you, Ed.
I don’t want you to ‘work with them,’ I want you to oppose them.
Screw ’em. Make them irrelevant.
methuenprogressive says
oceandreams says
He was pretty clear in his statement to the Globe what the thinks of the Republican agenda:
rdp says
Ed Markey is a leader on what is probably the most important issue for the rest of this century, Climate Change, and he’s been out in front on this for probably a decade. He respects the scientists and they respect him for his support and work. I want a US Senator that believes in Science. I’m thrilled to support Ed Markey for Senate and I know that he will fight hard in the campaign and in the US Senate for us.
Bob Peters,
Lexington, Democratic State Committee
seamusromney says
Senseless wars are really bad for the environment. Ammunition and fuel do a lot of damage. So I think that pretty much cancels out his leadership on environmental issues. He does the right thing when it’s easy, which is better than Scott Brown, but not when it’s hard. Anyone who voted for the war is more of a follower than a leader, and we need a leader.
oceandreams says
Who also voted for the war. Do you oppose him for Secretary of State because of that?
jconway says
Meant to vote against Seamus’ comment. The war vote was a mistake many good Democrats made including Biden and Kerry. The question is did he support the surge, support dragging in the conflict and support leaving troops there and opposing timetables or did he atone for his mistake and work to fix it? Like Murtha and Hagel he became a fierce critic and fought to do something about it. I say its irrelevant.
seamusromney says
Unfortunately, with Rice’s oil holdings, I think Kerry was the right choice between the two.
Sure, plenty of good Democrats made the same mistake. Which is why I’d have no problem supporting Markey if none of them are available. But why settle for less when we don’t even know who’s running yet? Mike Capuano voted against the war. So did Jim McGovern. Being average isn’t good enough if there are real leaders available, who had above average foresight. What’s going to happen the next time our Senator has to make a difficult decision? Will they just be average, or will they do the right thing?
michaelhoran says
Years ago–seems like forever ago, which is an unhappy reminder as to how long these wars have been dragging on–my dad (and my consigliere on all things political) told me, in an e-mail, that “I believe your feelings about the war have really clouded your judgment when it comes to the Democrats.” I’m quoting verbatim, because the line stuck in my memory. He was correct; I was prepared to throw more than a few babies out with the bathwater, and wandered in the wilderness for quite some time; but I was appalled and disdisgusted by the lack of wisdom, foresight, and spine. I lost a lot of both trust and respect for the Party as a whole and for more than a few individuals. It went beyond the simple matter of their vote; I too-vividly recall the Senator doing that painful “John Kerry reporting for duty” schtick and crowing about HE would have gotten Fallujah right the first time, which horrified me.
I like to think many folks may have learned something from these debacles. I’m more than ready to blame it on a strange, sad time in our recent history–there was a sickness in the air post 9/11. I DO retain some special respect for those who DID vote against the authorization, but as for the others, I’m happy–make that content–to judge them on a raft of other issues.
Markey has laregly refashioned himself as Mister Climate. I know he’s taken some heat from climate activists for championing the President’s “mixed use” energy policy, but the fact is I’m sitting in a nice warm room right now, and that warmth isn’t the product of wind turbines. When a ranking member of Congress comes out and says that the climate cliff is far more dangerous than the fiscal cliff, I’ve found myself a champion for a too-often neglected cause (for all her virtues, candidate Warren largely evaded the issue). That, combined with a sufficient voting record on most other matters, has me rejoicing that he’s in.
I do wonder what the impact of the announcement will be on Capuano and my own uninspiring rep, Lynch (I really don’t see the latter gaining any state-wide traction in any case). In any case, and even in light of my abiding appreciation for the efforts of Massie and DiFranco, the slate of potential candidates right out of the gate is far stronger than it was before Senator Warren jumped into the previous race (I’m also seeing a number of references on Kos to the plans of the Clintons and others getting up here to work on behalf of the nominee). If Markey is going to continue to make climate change a cornerstone of his message–and I do believe that the way he couches it, in terms of a plus for jobs, can be a winner–I’ll probably wind up working on his behalf, but I’d be more than happy with Mike Capuano.
I’m feeling pretty good about this. Not cocksure, but pretty good. I don’t care how far from the House either Brown or Weld are–make this race a referendum on the Republican Party per se.
Trickle up says
Markey is the real deal in this respect and has been on top of issues related to energy and the environment since he first came to Congress in the 70s.
That is why so many environmental advocates are excited about his candidacy.
The interesting question for me is, to what extent will he run on climate change and the environment?
These are, alas, not slam-dunk issues with voters, since solutions come with inconvenient price tags.
Recall the painful moment in the Obama-Romney debates when both candidates turned a climate-change question into a bragging contest about who was pulling the most carbon out of the ground the fastest.
Cowards the both of them.
On the other hand a Senatorial election in which voters expressly pull the lever FOR some of those inconvenient price tags would really elevate the national debate on climate.
Markey will certainly be attacked for his environmental record should he survive the primary (and perhaps before) no matter how he decides to position himself going forward.
In any case, nice to see he has come out swinging
jconway says
McGovern is 100% out of the race so people should stop saying or hoping otherwise. Capuano is unlikely to run, nor any other House member for that matter since Markey is in. I liked Capuano as well but he lost to freakin Martha Coakley and made some really dumb calls in Congress this past term (alienating himself from Pelosi and Libya). So it’s down to Markey and some state senator I haven’t heard of. I welcome them both to come in BMG and convice me. A war that ended a year ago and Markey consistently worked to end since 2005 shouldn’t be the disqualifier you are making it out to be.
seamusromney says
It’s easy to make a show of working to end it once it’s clearly unpopular. The hard part is doing the right thing when it’s unpopular. What gives you any confidence Markey will make the right decision the next time?
jconway says
Murtha did a lot of work, so did Spratt in NC, and so did Markey here. Also I suspect the experience has sobered him regarding future interventions. I’d agree though that he shouldn’t get a free pass and should answer these questions in the primary.
Mark L. Bail says
to hold people to account for Iraq. It would be interesting to hear Rep. Markey explain his decision, as Conway writes, he may have learned something. Either way, I don’t think that particular vote should be a litmus test.
jconway says
A fair question to ask an unfair basis for disqualification.
seamusromney says
The basis for disqualification would be his general pattern of flip flopping. He did it on abortion too, the last time he wanted to run for Senate. The voters have to lead him. I want a Senator who will do the leading himself.