Political savvy, experience on Markey’s side
Here’s a bit of advice to young progressives who want to elect one of their own to the U.S. Senate: Don’t bet against Eddie Markey.
If nothing else, Markey, 73, knows that, in the immortal observation of writer P.J. O’Rourke, “Age and guile beat youth, innocence and a bad haircut” every time.
Bad haircuts aside, Markey has age and guile going for him. Otherwise he would not have survived for almost 50 years in the world of Massachusetts and Washington politics.
He has been around. And while his critics argue that he has been around too long, it is his very political savvy that will work to his benefit, especially as he runs against a couple of political novices.
He also has $4 million (and counting) in campaign cash on hand, as well as the support of the Democratic Party establishment and an organization, such as it is.
Now, running for re-election to a second six-year term in the Senate, he is being challenged by two, younger, progressive Democrats. They have no name recognition, little in campaign money and no organization.
They think that they can do to him what Ayanna Pressley, who is black, did to Mike Capuano, and that is to knock off an older white guy who has been around too long, even though Markey is to the left of his opponents on all the Issues.
The challengers are Shannon Liss-Riordan, 49, of Brookline, a white mother of three and a lawyer; and Steve Pemberton, 51, of Framingham, a corporate executive who wrote a book about growing up in foster care. He is of mixed racial heritage.
Neither has run for office before, which makes them attractive potential clients for political consultants. Liss-Riordan has already pledged to spend $1 million of her own money on her campaign, while Pemberton is being advised by Northwind Strategies.
They will have their hands full taking on Markey, who has lived a long and charmed life since entering Massachusetts politics in 1972. He was first elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives at age 26.
Markey was then elected to the U.S. House from Malden when the seat opened following the death of the incumbent. Markey, an obscure state representative, was lucky to barely top the ticket in a crowded field in the 1976 Democrat primary. He never looked back.
He was lucky again when his friend, then U.S. Sen. John F. Kerry, tipped him off about resigning from the Senate to become President Obama’s secretary of state.
Markey got a jump on the 2013 special Democratic primary to fill the remainder of Kerry’s term, beating U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch of South Boston.
In the final, he beat Republican Gabriel Gomez. The following year he was elected to his first full sixyear term, defeating Republican Brian Herr, a political unknown.
It is understandable that younger progressives want to repeat Pressley’s startling victory over Capuano, or AOC’s upset of veteran Rep. Joe Crowley in the Bronx.
Those victories, as impressive as they were, were not statewide contests, but local congressional district fights. In Pressley’s case, her Boston-dominated 7th Congressional district is a minority majority district.
That is not the case statewide. Unlike a local congressional contest, Democratic candidates running statewide must win 15 per cent of the delegate vote at the party convention to appear on the September 2020 primary ballot.
This is harder than it looks, especially for candidates who have not run before.
But, since it is in Markey’s interest to have a crowded primary field — and thereby split the vote — he, with the help of Democratic Party fixers, could help his two opponents get on the ballot by throwing them delegate votes.
The alternative is to deny the challengers the 15 percent, as the party did to clear the field for Sen. Elizabeth Warren in 2012, so Markey can run unopposed in the primary.
One thing is sure, and that is no progressive challenger is going to run to the left of Markey.
If Liss-Reardon and Pemberton want to impeach President Trump, so does Markey. If both want to talk about immigration at the southern border, Markey has been there. Support for the Green New Deal? Markey co-sponsored it along with leftist icon Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. They want to tax the rich? Eddie Markey will tax anything that moves.
They want free health care for migrants from Mexico? Markey wants free health care for men from Mars.