State Senator Barbara L’Italien (D-Andover) announced today that she is exploring a race for the House seat currently held by Niki Tsongas. By my count, this brings the number of Dem candidates to three and so far all are from Andover. In fact, the other two concurrently attended Andover High, yet both had to move back to run. (Technically, the Constitution only requires residency in the state you represent, but living in the same district is an obvious political advantage.) They are former Chief of Staff to Marty Walsh Dan Koh and Cambridge City Councilor Nadeem Mazen. Two potential candidates who have publicly declined to run are Sen. Jamie Eldridge and Ellen Murphy Meehan. My understanding is that a L’Italien candidacy makes it quite a bit less likely that Sen. Eileen Donoghue will run.
I didn’t know this.
So I can run? (I won’t.) But I could? Charlotte Golar-Ritchie could?
Where’s your source on Nadeem Mazen switching districts? Last I saw he was running against Capuano in a primary in the 7th. Should we start up a #Nadeem4Anything twitter? There’s something in the water over in Cambridge that makes councilors want higher office.
I hadn’t read that either. Mazen’s announcement re: Capuano is from the early summer.
Also, for trivia purposes – were Mazen and Koh in the same class at Andover or different by like a year?
I wish Eldridge was running. I suspect Koh will get a big fundraising advantage, but I’m not a huge fan. He seems like more of a New Democrat type and the involvement with the Olympic bid was awful.
He appeared at the Acton-Boxborough DTC picnic last weekend, which is in the 3rd CD and which I attended, and I’m pretty sure I heard him correctly. He definitely mentioned being from Andover and having gone to high school with Dan Koh.
It’s a feature. Let’s say you, Congressman JimC of a state with more than one district, are living quite comfortably in your home, in your district. Then, the redistricting committee shows up after the US Census and, for reasons fair or foul, re-draw the lines so you’re now just outside your own district.
Now, you can choose to move back into your district, but the decision is one that balances your perception of the politics with your own finances. It doesn’t necessitate a move by a specific date, or, worse yet, make you Former Congressman JimC the moment the new maps are put in place.
Thank you. I feel like this should open up the field a bit. Seats don’t open that often.
Are any of these candidates true progressives? I am still in denial over Jamie not running, though of course I respect his decision. I’d love to know who he’s supporting and why!
I would call Barbara L’Italien a progressive, but has a track record of getting and staying elected in districts that aren’t. Of course as I recall you are rather hard to please in this department.
Prove to me that L’Italien is a progressive, because that is NOT what I’ve heard, from people who know her. And yes! – I am, as you say, “rather hard to please in this department”, because I we NEED a true progressive to run for this seat. Why should I settle for anything less? But regardless Christopher, your comment about me comes across as extremely rude.
Well, she spoke at Greater Lowell Area Democrats and said all the right (or left, if you will) things and pointed to examples in her record. I was about to ask her about single-payer health care when she offered on her own that she jumped on that bandwagon ten years ago. I’ve followed her career pretty closely here in the Merrimack Valley and am frankly baffled that you’ve heard from others who would contradict the progressive label. Maybe I should have ended my last comment with a smiley emoticon because it seems you took it more harshly than I intended, though it is true that I don’t have a whole lot of patience for purity tests.
Progressive Mass Profile
I’m with Christopher on this one. I’m also partial since a former staffer for Keri Thompson is her legislative aide now and a friend of mine. The staffer is to my left on most issues and wouldn’t be working for someone who didn’t be align with her values. She loves her boss and is excited about this race.
Not my district, but am nonetheless hoping for more activity. What of the Politico rumor that Juana Matias was thinking of jumping in? Jim Fiorentini? Or literally any Lowell pol – seems wild that none would take a shot. Are folks that afraid of Koh’s fundraising potential?
I don’t mind Dan Koh, seems like a good enough guy, but that a 32 year old who hasn’t lived in the district since he was a kid is about to waltz into Congress in a state where seats are so prized really shocks me. I just don’t think L’Italien has the juice to do it.
And I think Kerrigan may be too wounded…
By what, losing for LG in 2014? People vote for the top of the ticket so I’m not sure that matters a whole lot.
No, I think he did well enough in 2014. I think he’s wounded losing the Mass Dems chair race when, from the scuttlebutt I heard, he thought he was a lock.
He definitely behaved like the frontrunner in that race, which sometimes is sound strategy (and IIRC came out ahead on the first ballot, but not a majority). However, I doubt most voters, or even most non-DSC activists, are going to care about that most insidery of baseball.
You may be right – I do wonder if it might give potential financial contributors pause. We’ll know soon enough!
Yeah, but we did that exact thing in CD4 in 2012.
Fair point – but Dan Koh ain’t a Kennedy.
I’ve heard both Matias and Fiorentini. I believe the latter has a mayoral re-election to get through first. The former I have a hard time seeing as having enough of a base or resume from which to run. I very much do think L’Italien has what it takes and am strongly inclined to support her.
Right about Fiorentini but believe he’s unopposed, so I suppose we’ll see sooner rather than later if he’s truly considering it.