MA-SEN Megathread: Senator Markey wins

[Dipper Josh]

This race is heating up between the candidates and their supporters. Case in point is all of the arguing above ^^^ but also this tweet:

https://twitter.com/joekennedy/status/1271251824813780992

Of course, this will be a close race, but there should be some serious concern for Markey on race. There, of course, should be concern for Kennedy around his "why are you running/Senators do more than vote" response.

Criticizing Markey for increasing prison funding? Interesting.

Seeing as Joe Kennedy just recently thought it was a good idea to not throw black people in prison for smoking marijuana, I think the prison issue acts as a weird trump card for him.

[Dipper Josh]

Pro-Kennedy PAC to launch ad barrage:

https://twitter.com/vgmac/status/1290114126388375552

Not sure I like this. JK3 has a good point the wah Markey was against outside money in other races and now all of a sudden was taking it - It made Markey look like an opportunist and a fraud. So now having PAC’s run ads for you kind of takes away that point.

Joe Kennedy turning out to be a massive hypocrite? Who could have possibly predicted that besides everyone except you.

[Dipper Josh]

So far, only Hoyer had openly participated in this primary.
https://twitter.com/greggiroux/status/1294693774782877696

https://twitter.com/hjessy_/status/1294696586870755329

Even if that was the reason, that still doesn't excuse it. Why would you have to even it out? Why would want to be neutral in this race?

Staying neutral isn't a good thing when it's a principled politician getting primaried by a shameless opportunist.

[Dipper Josh]

The Morse internal today had Markey up 43-36 in MA-01, the Richard Neal internal from a couple months ago (according to Zaybay) had Kennedy up 20 points in the district.

Obviously small scale internals aren't the most accurate but that is hard to ignore.

[Dipper Josh]

"All the Senators I don't like don't actually do anything. America has actually completely adopted my entire ideology because all the senators that are different from me, just sit back all day and play candy crush on their phone. I am very smart."

[Dipper Josh]

She sucks, She's always sucked, and she will continue to suck. Remember when the Progs lined up behind her because she was only getting challenged from the right(EVEN AOC!)? Guess what, SHE SUCKED THEN TOO!

[Dipper Josh]

I have many issues with what's being said here. It's not a House vs. Senate issue. "But she endorsed Omar, AOC, and Tlaib!" Of course she did because they were all going to win anyway and there's no reason to get egg on your face. There are clearly ideological or behind the scenes undertones here. She's not going to endorse AOC primarying Gillibrand or Tlaib primarying Stabenow. (it wont happen but if it does, she wont). She didnt just endorse Kennedy against a respected incumbent because she's "Team House #1 yay!" there's clearly other things at play here.

https://twitter.com/vgmac/status/1296484779215532034

This is a bit of a surprise.

Not particularly. If someone challenges an incumbent from the left who votes with Trump 70% of the time, they're an upstart and anyone who works with them needs to be cast out of the party. Squash them like the bug that they are!

If someone challenges a noncontroversial incumbent from the right, they're a "courageous leader" and a "rising star".

Let's all be real about this.

You're right, it is pretty hypocritical when #RoseTwitter pretends Ayanna Pressely is a "courageous leader" and a "rising star" for primarying a non-controversial incumbent from the right.  

No she didn't. She attacked him on ICE, support of Police Unions, and donor money. The Police Union stuff was a huge deal in the primary because Capuano is an old school pro-Union politician and wasnt able to make an exception when he needed to. Is she far to the left of him? No, not even close. However, to say she's to the right of him is very stupid.

[Dipper Josh]

https://twitter.com/vgmac/status/1296484779215532034

Remember, folks: the establishment hates socialists more than it hates fascists.

No offense, but I literally have no idea what you're talking about.  Ed Markey is not a socialist and Joe Kennedy III isn't a fascist.

You're obfuscating the last point I made. A primary challenger from the left is a pariah, a challenger from the (admittedly vague) right is a bright young man. Surely you see the hypocrisy from Pelosi, right?

I see hypocrisy in Pelosi backing a primary challenger against a Democratic incumbent, but I don't think it has anything to do with either candidate's ideology any more than Pelosi's endorsement of Ilhan Omar did  

This is basically a proxy fight between the House and Senate Democratic Caucuses, perhaps even between Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi specifically.  That's all that's going on here as far as congressional Democrats are concerned.  

However, I do see ideological hypocrisy from - and I'm not saying this applies to you, I genuinely don't remember who you supported - Berniecrats who supported primary challenges from the right against folks like Michael Capuano, Jerry Nadler, and Mike Honda and now cry foul here.  I say all that as a Markey supporter who considers Kennedy little more than an over-hyped empty suit who is already a waste of a perfectly good House seat as it is

Can you stop making stuff up? You posted this after I disproved that Pressley challenged Capuano from the right and then you continue to double down by saying Jerry Nadler was primaried from the right too?

Lindsey Boylan supported M4A, GND, 15 dollar Minimum wage, Universal Pre-K, and decriminalizing sex work!

Now I'm fully aware that Nadler is on the left of the house leadership and MAYBE you can make an argument that it was a lateral challenge but to say he was primaried from the right is either ignorance or straight up lying.

[Dipper Josh]

The DCCC will still blacklist you if you dare to challenge one of their sh**tty incumbents while the Speaker just endorsed against a Senate incumbent. It's so obvious that they want anyone remotely progressive gone. Markey isn't some progressive dream, but he's a hell of a lot better than Kennedy.

Then why didn't Pelosi endorse Caruso-Cabrera or Melton-Meaux, if they want all progressives gone?

Because neither was going to win and she didn't want to look bad if they won re-election, adding more fuel to the fire for no good reason.

This, however, is a close race where she thinks she can impact it. Is there more at play here than ideology? Absolutely. I'm sure Kennedy and Pelosi had a nice long chat behind closed doors about god knows what but for various reasons Pelosi wants Kennedy in the Senate more than Markey. The problem here is that ideology was clearly involved in a big way and you're using two false equivalencies to try and discount that.

I'll close off my point with something rather obvious that helps solidify this situation not just being "House vs. Senate." If AOC primaries Gillibrand or Tlaib primaries Stabenow, you bet your ass, she aint endorsing.

ENDORSING CENK UYGUR

BUT NOT ED MARKEY

I'm going to ****ing scream.

His endorsement game has always been weak and I don't know why. One of my least favourite things about him. Honestly though, im numb to it at this point.

[Dipper Josh]

If Kennedy does end up winning, this thread is going to age terribly.

If Markey ends up winning, we have a thread full off hilarious takes to comb through.

[Dipper Josh]

Early call but never too early for a new signature!