Jim Hand: Kennedy move on Markey creates a ripple effect down ballot | Columns

U.S. Rep. Joseph Kennedy III has not even decided if he is running for the Senate yet, but he is causing a ripple effect down to the bottom of the ballot.

As soon as it became public that Kennedy is considering a run against Sen. Ed Markey, folks such as state legislators started looking to run for his House seat.

That in turn inspired more people to consider running for the state legislative seats that would open up by the ripple effect.

About 20 people have been mentioned as potential congressional candidates if Kennedy takes on Markey in next year’s primary election.

Just say three of those 20 who decide to run are state senators Paul Feeney, D-Foxboro and Becca Rausch, D-Needham and Rep. Shawn Dooley, R-Norfolk.

That would mean selectmen, city councilors, and political newcomers of all sorts would launch campaigns for those three seats.

A whole cottage industry of campaign consulting would be created in the area to help all those candidates.

Of course, Feeney, Rausch and Dooley would be faced with a tough decision because if they run and lose, they would be out of a job.

Someone like Attleboro Mayor Paul Heroux, who is up for re-election this November, would still have his mayoral job to fall back on if he ran for Congress and lost.

Heroux has long acknowledged that he would like to serve in Congress some day, but says he loves his job as mayor and is focused on re-election.

Feeney, Rausch, and Dooley have all said they would consider a run if Kennedy ran for Senate.

Elsewhere in politics

  • Markey is certainly taking the prospect of a Kennedy challenge seriously.

Shortly after a Sun Chronicle article hit the internet Thursday quoting Heroux as saying he supports Markey, the senator called the mayor to thank him.

  • U.S. Rep. Bill Keating, D-Bourne, who use to represent the Mansfield area in the state Legislature, has become the 133rd member of Congress to call for the impeach of President Donald Trump.
  • Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Salem, formally ended his presidential campaign Friday, but it really never got started.

He registered between zero and 1 percent in polls and seemed to agonize the Democratic voters he was courting.

It seemed like he spent more time tilting at windmills than at Republicans.

Be the first to comment

Leave a Reply