A Tale of Three Primaries

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From my home state of Massachusetts:

In the First Congressional District, progressive Holyoke Mayor Alex Morse, 31, is challenging Richie Neal, 71, the corporate-oriented chair of the House Ways and Means Committee. In early August, a suspiciously timed scandal broke. The College Dems of UMass Amherst alleged that Morse, while an adjunct prof, had engaged in sex with students.

Now it turns out that the entire episode was a hit job planned well in advance by allies of Neal; and that Morse, a single gay man, had never engaged in other than consensual sex. No complaints were ever filed with the university. With just two weeks to go until the Democratic primary, it remains to be seen who will be more damaged. Kudos to our former intern, Dan Boguslaw, for ferreting out much of this story.

More from Robert Kuttner

Meanwhile in the Fourth Congressional District, Joe Kennedy has given up his House seat to challenge Sen. Ed Markey. The district runs south from the affluent, liberal Newton and Brookline to working-class Fall River. Weirdly, the liberal Boston Globe endorsed the most right-wing member of the large field, Jake Auchincloss, who was a Republican until two years ago and has a history of racist remarks.

The wife of Globe publisher John Henry, Linda Pizzuti Henry, sits in on Globe editorial meetings, and is a close friend and associate of Auchincloss’s mom. The editorial page editor insists that no explicit request was made. Do you believe that? As they say in Beantown, so don’t I. Pretty cheesy for a once-great paper.

As for the Kennedy-Markey race, generationally it is superficially like the Neal-Morse contest. Markey is 74 and Kennedy is 39. But ideologically, Markey is well to Kennedy’s left and a longtime champion of the environment and labor. Kennedy has been running mainly on the family name, and has yet to define a reason for making the race. After a slow start, Markey has been gaining on Kennedy and is narrowly leading in recent polls.

Kennedy’s run will waste tens of millions of campaign dollars in a year when funds are needed to defeat Trump and take back the Senate. Unlike Morse’s challenge of Neal, there is no ideological basis. Nor is it about giving voice to unrepresented groups, as in the case of Ayanna Pressley’s successful challenge of progressive incumbent Mike Capuano in 2018. Joe Kennedy is a privileged white guy.

Ah, Massachusetts, home of the first free public school, the Babe Ruth trade, and Inflate-Gate. Ya gotta love this state.

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