MA-1: Morse accused of inappropriate sexual relations with college students

[Zaybay]

At first I was shocked that Morse was going the "burn it all down" route of arguing it was a hit.

But now......I'm honestly not sure what to think.

[Sestak]

At first I was shocked that Morse was going the "burn it all down" route of arguing it was a hit.

But now......I'm honestly not sure what to think.

It’s a hit, plain and simple. Even if you ignore ALL of the text of the article because “intercept is LITERAL fake news” or whatever, the screenshots alone are damning.

[MaxQue]

At first I was shocked that Morse was going the "burn it all down" route of arguing it was a hit.

But now......I'm honestly not sure what to think.

Use your brain instead of blinding following the "let's believe everybody" mantra and everything becomes clear.

[Figueira]

Name the GOP opponents he had as mayor.

I don't know as the elections were non-partisan. But all his opponents ran against him from the right and one of them promised to "make Holyoke great again" in a debate. Holyoke is Safe D at the national level, but low turnout as well as weird local politics allows conservatives to be competitive at the city level.

I'm not sure why you keep harping on this though. Who cares what party his opponents are?

My mayor, Steve Jones (R-Garden Grove) never promised to "make Garden Grove great again", but he's a Republican mayor of a Democratic leaning city. All municipal elections in California are nonpartisan. Do you think there's a good chance Morse faced GOP opposition?

I would honestly be surprised if any of his opponents (besides the incumbent he initially beat) were Democrats.

Really? You think most of them were Republicans?

Really. I don't see what's so surprising about that.

[Greedo punched first]

Name the GOP opponents he had as mayor.

I don't know as the elections were non-partisan. But all his opponents ran against him from the right and one of them promised to "make Holyoke great again" in a debate. Holyoke is Safe D at the national level, but low turnout as well as weird local politics allows conservatives to be competitive at the city level.

I'm not sure why you keep harping on this though. Who cares what party his opponents are?

My mayor, Steve Jones (R-Garden Grove) never promised to "make Garden Grove great again", but he's a Republican mayor of a Democratic leaning city. All municipal elections in California are nonpartisan. Do you think there's a good chance Morse faced GOP opposition?

I would honestly be surprised if any of his opponents (besides the incumbent he initially beat) were Democrats.

Really? You think most of them were Republicans?

Really. I don't see what's so surprising about that.

Republicans almost never run in MA-01. They probably won't in 2022 either. Republicans almost always run in most of California's districts that are far more Democratic than MA-01.

[Lourdes]

https://twitter.com/IndivisibleTeam/status/1293731067128619009

[Figueira]

Name the GOP opponents he had as mayor.

I don't know as the elections were non-partisan. But all his opponents ran against him from the right and one of them promised to "make Holyoke great again" in a debate. Holyoke is Safe D at the national level, but low turnout as well as weird local politics allows conservatives to be competitive at the city level.

I'm not sure why you keep harping on this though. Who cares what party his opponents are?

My mayor, Steve Jones (R-Garden Grove) never promised to "make Garden Grove great again", but he's a Republican mayor of a Democratic leaning city. All municipal elections in California are nonpartisan. Do you think there's a good chance Morse faced GOP opposition?

I would honestly be surprised if any of his opponents (besides the incumbent he initially beat) were Democrats.

Really? You think most of them were Republicans?

Really. I don't see what's so surprising about that.

Republicans almost never run in MA-01. They probably won't in 2022 either. Republicans almost always run in most of California's districts that are far more Democratic than MA-01.

There's a big difference between city politics and national politics. (Also Holyoke is a city of 40,000 so it doesn't dominate the district at all.)

[Greedo punched first]

Name the GOP opponents he had as mayor.

I don't know as the elections were non-partisan. But all his opponents ran against him from the right and one of them promised to "make Holyoke great again" in a debate. Holyoke is Safe D at the national level, but low turnout as well as weird local politics allows conservatives to be competitive at the city level.

I'm not sure why you keep harping on this though. Who cares what party his opponents are?

My mayor, Steve Jones (R-Garden Grove) never promised to "make Garden Grove great again", but he's a Republican mayor of a Democratic leaning city. All municipal elections in California are nonpartisan. Do you think there's a good chance Morse faced GOP opposition?

I would honestly be surprised if any of his opponents (besides the incumbent he initially beat) were Democrats.

Really? You think most of them were Republicans?

Really. I don't see what's so surprising about that.

Republicans almost never run in MA-01. They probably won't in 2022 either. Republicans almost always run in most of California's districts that are far more Democratic than MA-01.

There's a big difference between city politics and national politics. (Also Holyoke is a city of 40,000 so it doesn't dominate the district at all.)

Will any Republican run in MA-01 in 2022? They run in most of the more heavily Democratic California districts.

[Adam Griffin]

I WANT TO KNOW THE EXACT POLITICAL AFFILIATIONS OF EVERY WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS VOTER EVER RIGHT NOW

[Morning in Atlas]

Remember when we were all secret sex offenders because we thought these allegations were a hitjob?

[Lognog]

Ok a little late to this but let me just say, I was incredibly wrong. like more wrong than I have ever been in my life

[Zaybay]

Yeah, if what the Intercept says is true, which seems likely after the collaboration from Panetta, then this is truly disgusting.

All of this retching behavior for an internship.

[We Live in Black and White]

Let me open by saying that cases like these are a massive minority and that I intend to keep erring on the side of supporting accusers rather than the accused.

Now that that's out of the way: Jesus Goddamn Christ this might be one of the most dire political smearjobs I've ever seen.

[Xing]

That is incredibly slimy, and I’m definitely going to re-evaluate my position here. One thing I’d like clarification on: Did Morse have relations with students at one point? That would by no means excuse the hit job, which is wrong and gross, and certainly enough for me to walk back on supporting Neal, but it would still make me hesitant to support Morse fully, for reasons I’ve stated before.

[new_patomic]

That is incredibly slimy, and I’m definitely going to re-evaluate my position here. One thing I’d like clarification on: Did Morse have relations with students at one point? That would by no means excuse the hit job, which is wrong and gross, and certainly enough for me to walk back on supporting Neal, but it would still make me hesitant to support Morse fully, for reasons I’ve stated before.

In his first statement he admitted to having consensual relationships with some students, though not of anyone that he himself taught, that he met through dating apps.

[afleitch]

This was a brazen homophobic hit job worthy of Malaysia. Not Massachusetts.

[TiltsAreUnderrated]

The thing about this that really bothers me is that they clearly played into homophobic stereotypes to try and get this story to spread. Just an unbelievable scumbag move.

Does Neal still win the primary?

I'd be really interested to see how this is reported on. People forget that Keith Ellison's allegations were also pretty much thrown out yet he's still a tarnished figure.

Honestly, I don't see how Morse comes out of this with positives.

Neal will win, but I’ll bet that internship isn’t happening.

[Hassan 2022]

https://twitter.com/jentaub/status/1293591171978199040

I echo this 100%. As a queer person I'm sickened by how this "story" unfolded and regret souring on Morse without getting enough information. Let's face it, none of us had enough information to properly assess what the hell was going on here. Now it's more than obvious that this was a disgusting and homophobic smear campaign to destroy Alex Morse's career. I had supported Morse before this non-story and will continue to do so going into the September 1 primary (from afar, of course).

[Morning in Atlas]

That is incredibly slimy, and I’m definitely going to re-evaluate my position here. One thing I’d like clarification on: Did Morse have relations with students at one point? That would by no means excuse the hit job, which is wrong and gross, and certainly enough for me to walk back on supporting Neal, but it would still make me hesitant to support Morse fully, for reasons I’ve stated before.

In his first statement he admitted to having consensual relationships with some students, though not of anyone that he himself taught, that he met through dating apps.

Also worth noting that he was cognizant of his position and portrayed himself as a normal guy on Tinder.

[new_patomic]

That is incredibly slimy, and I’m definitely going to re-evaluate my position here. One thing I’d like clarification on: Did Morse have relations with students at one point? That would by no means excuse the hit job, which is wrong and gross, and certainly enough for me to walk back on supporting Neal, but it would still make me hesitant to support Morse fully, for reasons I’ve stated before.

In his first statement he admitted to having consensual relationships with some students, though not of anyone that he himself taught, that he met through dating apps.

Also worth noting that he was cognizant of his position and portrayed himself as a normal guy on Tinder.

Right.

As far as we are aware he wasn't hitting people up, or people he knew from political events, going "hey I'm the mayor 😉"

There hasn't been any proof that he actually actively was coercive in his communications with people. And after the intercept piece there's a great deal of reason to be skeptical if there's any case at all.

[RussFeingoldWasRobbed]

Wow...... what a mess.

[Babeuf]

Morse raised $130,000 yesterday, per a text from his campaign. Best fundraising day of the campaign.

[Young Conservative]

This is clearly a homophobic hit job, and I have no skin in the game here.

[Pollster]

Kid coulda kept his mouth shut and probably easily gotten an internship with whoever wins.

What a stupid, homophobic hit job that hopefully will not discourage future young LGBTQ candidates from running for office.

[Xing]

I still definitely have reservations about Morse having relations with students (even if it was consensual and they weren’t his students), but this kind of slimy hit job from his opponents definitely puts him above Neal. Hopefully Morse shows better judgment in the future.