Iraq veteran joins Dem race
Mass. lawmaker critical of Trump and Pelosi
BOSTON – U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton is the latest Democrat to jump into the race for the White House.
The Massachusetts lawmaker and Iraq War veteran made the announcement on his website Monday.
In 2014, Moulton unseated long-term incumbent Rep. John Tierney in a Democratic primary and went on to represent the state’s 6th Congressional District, a swath of communities north of Boston that includes Salem, home of the infamous colonial-era witch trials and source of a jab Moulton has aimed at President Donald Trump.
Speculation about a Moulton run has simmered as far back as 2017 when he spoke at a Democratic political rally in Iowa, home of the first-in-the-nation presidential caucuses. At the time, he brushed aside talk of a presidential run.
Talk of a possible run ramped up during last year’s election when the former Marine helped lead an effort to get other Democratic military veterans to run for Congress – a cause he continues to push.
“16 years ago today, leaders in Washington sent me and my friends to fight in a war based on lies. It’s still going on today,” he said in a tweet. “It’s time for the generation that fought in Iraq to take over for the generation that sent us there.”
Moulton, 40, helped lead an effort within the party to reject Nancy Pelosi as House speaker after Democrats regained control of the chamber. Moulton said it was time for new leadership.
Moulton has been a frequent critic of Trump – including over Trump’s veto of a resolution to end U.S. military assistance in Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen and his push for a border wall.
When Trump claimed to be the target of the “single greatest witch hunt of a politician in American history” because of the Robert Mueller investigation, Moulton responded that “as the Representative of Salem, MA, I can confirm that this is false.”
Despite differing with members of the most liberal wing of the party, Moulton has staked out familiar policy positions for those seeking the Democratic presidential nomination. He called health care “a right every American must be guaranteed,” pushed to toughen gun laws, was a co-sponsor of the Green New Deal, championed a federal “Green Corps” modeled after the Civilian Conservation Corps of the 1930s and urged an end to the Electoral College.
Money could prove a challenge. Moulton has raised $255,000 this year and had about $723,000 in his campaign account at the end of March. He is the third political figure from Massachusetts to run for the White House. Sen. Elizabeth Warren – a Democrat – and former Gov. William Weld – a Republican – are also running.