Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) fended off primary challenger Rep. Joe Kennedy III (D-MA) in the Massachusetts elections on Tuesday night.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://talkingpointsmemo.com/?p=1330066
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://talkingpointsmemo.com/?p=1330066
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Too bad Kennedy tried this. It was too early in his career. My guess is it would be awkward to try to run for congress again in two years.
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Markey highlighted his commitment to progressive values, stating that “we made it clear that we’d rather lose fighting as hard as we could for what we believe in than in finding the middle ground.”
I’m not sure I’m crazy about this as a guiding principle in a historical moment when the party as a whole can’t afford to lose. If he wanted to say the people of Massachusetts have always been forward-looking and they’ve shown they’re ready for bold new ideas, great, I love that. But two months before we decide if we’re going to vote for one of those reviled centrist Democrats at the top of the ticket or sit on our hands at home with our unsullied principles to keep us warm, I’m not crazy about disparaging the idea of finding common ground with other wings of the party.
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A victory of a work horse over a show horse.
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Before people make all sorts of assumptions about why Markey won (progressive’s v. moderates), I will say this: Markey’s campaign was miles ahead of Kennedy’s. My wife and I received countless texts/calls from the Markey campaign. Not one from Kennedy’s. I even joked that I was going to vote for Kennedy because Markey’s texts were so annoying. Markey’s campaign fought like they were desperate to win. I have no idea what Kennedy’s was thinking. Name alone was going to be enough?
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I agree.
I expect his House seat was safe for him as long as he had wanted it.
Had Kennedy been patient, he could have likely walked into either Markey’s or Warren’s seat upon either’s retirement.
Now, if Warren ascends to a cabinet position Kennedy is less likely to do well in a special because he jumped the gun.
He should have openly considered challenging Markey then dropped back. This would have made his eventual run stronger.
Now he just looks impatient and it makes it obvious he hardly even cares for the Senate seat and that the presidency is his goal. He wanted to jump to the Senate to look good for 2024 VP orv2028 Presidential nominee.
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So 2016…
Foolish & arrogant too.
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Cold comfort, indeed. We need to keep warm by staying focused on our rage at what our country has become.
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I mean, in the abstract it’s a creditable idea. But not at this particular moment. I have to hand it to Bernie, he ran again on his own positions, fought hard but not damagingly, and then acknowledged that he’d fallen short and made what seems a genuine pledge of solidarity. If your consituency wants the Green New Deal and Medicare for All, great, go nuts, more power to you. I’d like all that myself. But this rather-lose idea, while OK in a primary, is pernicious in a general. It helps Trump, to put it bluntly. Let’s not help Trump, mmkay, Ed?
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So even if Biden wins, there will be no honeymoon period and the Dems will do what they do so well, and pick each other apart? It makes me shudder.
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I read a tweet about this that spoke to your point:
The @edmarkey campaign was @JohnEWalsh14 playbook 101:
— Alex Goldstein (@alexjgoldstein) September 2, 2020
1. Put grassroots at center
2. Hire tons of young/energetic folks ready to run through walls
3. Empower the hell out of them
4. Let go of reigns and let them win it
John is a legend, and I’m so proud of him and his team.
It’s “reins,” of course, but otherwise this was interesting. Reminds me of Obama’s first campaign.
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The most useless race is finally over.
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It was ill-conceived from the beginning. The wrong race at the wrong time. Kennedy has now clouded his own future. Dumb.
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Bad news for Nancy Pelosi’s version of the Democratic Party. Genuinely good news for the progressive wing of the Democratic Party. Maybe Democrats will take this as a mandate to move out from their urban centers.
For those who will write “what does Nancy have to do with this story” Nancy endorsed Joe against the long time progressive.. The progressives have ideas beyond holding on to power.
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In a word.
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Self interests is not a winning stratagy in the Trump era.
Maybe, and if you’re saying that Pelosi should have stayed out of it, I agree.
But (1) policy-wise, Markey and Kennedy were not exactly miles apart; and (2) consider this other result from yesterday:
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I’m curious; we got the results of this primary very quickly. Will results of the Presidential election be available the next morning, too? (Not that it’s likely that Biden will lose Massachusetts.)
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It is rare to find a political issue where nuance isn’t necessary. This is one.
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