WALSH BACKS MARKEY
Not fazed by possible Joe Kennedy III challenge
Mayor Martin Walsh said Sen. Ed Markey, facing a possible challenge by U.S. Rep. Joseph Kennedy III, can count on his support as the incumbent senator is the latest to face a contest driven by “frustration” among voters.
“I’ve already committed to Sen. Markey,” Walsh said after a gun-control rally downtown that featured both the mayor and senator as speakers. I’ve talked to him about it. He’s been a champion for so many different causes in the United States Senate.”
Kennedy, 38, is reported to be considering a run against the 73-year-old Markey for the Senate seat that will be up in 2020. The race would pit a young member of the state’s most famous political dynasty against a politician who’s been a fixture of Massachusetts politics for more than four decades.
The New York Times reported on Saturday about Kennedy’s interest, citing a source close to him. Politico earlier in the week had reported on a poll in the field asking about the match-up and a group urging Kennedy to make a run at Markey.
Kennedy couldn’t be reached for comment on Sunday at his Brookline home. His campaign has said he’s focusing on a 2020 run for the congressional seat west of Boston that he currently holds.
Walsh, who as Boston’s mayor is one of the state’s highest-profile Democrats, said he doesn’t think there are fissures in the party around the state. Instead, he said frustration at the “uncertainty” Democrats feel about the state of the country — on topics including guns, health care, immigration and social issues — is causing interest like Kennedy’s and runs like now-U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley’s last year, when she unseated longtime U.S. Rep. Mike Capuano.
“People are frustrated. I think a lot of people don’t know how their voices should be heard, there’s challenges happening. I think that we’ve seen it the last couple of election cycles, more and more people challenging incumbents and elected officials,” Walsh said. “It’s the general feel right now in our country. I’m 52 years old. I’ve never ever felt it like this.”
Markey at the rally on Sunday on City Hall Plaza railed against the National Rifle Association and other states with looser gun laws, slamming President Trump, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and other Republicans throughout.
Afterward, Markey, a Malden native, wouldn’t bite on multiple questions about a possible Kennedy insurgency.
“Joe and I, we speak regularly, and we will continue to talk,” Markey said and then repeated that both would have plenty of cash to throw around, as Markey’s war chest at the end of June contained more than $4 million, and Kennedy at the same time had $4.2 million.
Markey is already facing a challenge from Shannon Liss-Riordan, a labor lawyer, and Steve Pemberton, a former senior executive at Walgreens and author. Their campaigns did not respond to requests for comment on Sunday.
When asked why so many Democrats — two declared challengers and now potentially the congressman — are stepping into the race against him, Markey twisted his lips and brought up various issues he focuses on, like gun control and the Green New Deal.
“I’m running on my record,” the septuagenarian senator said. “I’m running for the future of the commonwealth and the country. My fights are the fights of Massachusetts today.”