SAME-OLD SEEN
So much for big change on this Election Day
This is supposed to be the big change election?
Up and down the ballot on Tuesday, nearly all incumbent lawmakers swept to victory in their primary contests as Massachusetts voters rejected fresh-faced challengers like U.S. Rep. Joseph P. Kennedy III.
At the State House, just two Democratic incumbents lost their seats, and one of those, Rep. David Nangle, is facing federal bank fraud charges.
House Speaker Robert DeLeo’s leadership team won all their contested races except for Nangle, so there will be no change in how the Legislature is run.
And for those looking for change in the Massachusetts congressional delegation, forget it.
Incumbents U.S. Sen. Edward Markey, U.S. Rep. Richard Neal, U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch and U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton all held onto their seats, trouncing their challengers.
Thirty-year-old Holyoke Mayor Alex Morse, who was the most formidable challenger in the House races, did not come close to unseating Neal, the powerful House Ways and Means chairman. It was not the only disappointing loss for progressives on Tuesday.
In the 4th Congressional District, JoeK3’s turf, two young Democrats, Newton City Councilor and war veteran Jake Auchincloss, and former Deval Patrick aide Jesse Mermell, were battling in a neck-andneck race — though Auchincloss held a more than 1,000 vote lead.
If that lead holds, it would be a bitter disappointment for progressives, who opposed the war veteran and former Republican Auchincloss.
The Kennedy race may have been the most puzzling because voters so resoundingly rejected his message for “fresh” and “new” leadership — code words for “I’m younger.” And Markey may also have benefited from a visceral dislike of Kennedy’s vanity campaign. The Newton Democrat could never really articulate a reason for why he decided to try and oust fellow Democrat Markey.
The fact that the 74-year-old Markey has been in Congress for more than four decades didn’t seem to matter to voters — a major miscalculation by the Kennedy campaign.
Markey assembled an impressive coalition of younger voters and environmentalists that helped fuel his victory, and the endorsement from U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez didn’t hurt, either.
AOC helped Markey connect with a new generation of votes that probably never heard of the longtime senator until Kennedy challenged him.
Suffolk University pollster David Paleologos, who correctly called the Markey race, said he believes it’s very difficult in Massachusetts for white, male challengers to unseat older white, male incumbents.
And while some voters do want change, “people are opting for a steady hand, in many cases someone who has experience, can pass legislation, write bills and make things happen”, Paleologos said.