Ocasio-Cortez endorses Markey in Senate race amid speculation over Kennedy candidacy

[brooklynite]

Source: The Hill


Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) Friday endorsed Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) in his reelection bid amid speculation that Rep. Joe Kennedy (D-Mass.) may challenge the 73-year-old incumbent in a primary.

Ocasio-Cortez, a progressive hero in the House, noted that she and Markey collaborated in introducing the Green New Deal in Congress and praised him as “one of the strongest progressives that we have in the United States Senate.”

“I'm here to say that I'm proud to enthusiastically support and endorse Senator Ed Markey for re-election to the United States Senate,” she said in a video Friday. “Ed Markey is a proud and strong progressive champion for working families. Not just in Massachusetts, but across the country.”

“And his leadership in authoring the Green New Deal along with me, and carrying it in the United States Senate, is emblematic of the kind of work that he does for working families across the country,” she added. “And he’s not just resting on his record of the past, but he's aggressively pursuing an agenda for the future. And that's what a progressive is, and that's what progressivism is all about.”

Read more: https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/461317-ocasio-cortez-endorses-markey-in-senate-race-amid-speculation-over-kennedy

[BeyondGeography]

1. Warren and AOC are tight

More evidence of such.

[Tiggeroshii]

2. Primaries are important and just cause somebody is the incumbant doesnt make them the right candidat

That being said: as much as I love Joe Kennedy, this has swayed me towards supporting Markey.

[summer_in_TX]

3. Markey is a very good guy, IMO.

I'm a lifelong Texan, so it may be a surprise to learn that I've gotten to hear Markey speak in person at the National Conference on Media Reform (back when he was serving in the House) where he was a highly respected and much-honored guest speaker. I went to several, but I think that was the one in 2005 in St. Louis.

My take was that he was a genuinely good guy who wasn't likely to end up in the limelight, but a very decent public servant.

He'd played a leading role in efforts to create legislation to allow nonprofits to apply for low power radio licenses after Reagan's deregulation caused independent media to quickly be swallowed up. Communities suddenly found themselves without responsive media as media conglomerates fired personnel right and left after loading up on debt in buying up broadcast stations right and left. To make up for the lack of personnel, they turned to automation. But in emergencies, the automated stations failed to provide warnings of floods (San Antonio and New Braunfels, TX) or a train derailment (Minot, SD) with toxic hydrochloric fumes that killed sleeping residents.

The results of that work on media legislation took several sessions to get passed, but I am forever grateful, because now my town, which has endured a number of major floods, has its own LPFM radio station.

[Mc Mike]

4. I'm with her. Come on Joe. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Wait a bit and see if you might not have to fill Warren's seat.

[Gustavo28M]

5. If Warren Were To Win and Vacate Seat...

...does the Governor appoint her replacement or would Massachusetts hold a special election? If it is a special election, then maybe Joe just wants to get a headstart fundraising.

[Rhiannon12866]

6. Good question. I'm not sure, but it may depend on the individual state

I'm in New York and we had both circumstances happen here. When President Obama chose our senator, Hillary Clinton, as his Secretary of State, the governor appointed our congresswoman, Kirsten Gillibrand (NY-20), to replace her as senator. She finished the term and has since been reelected on her own. But that meant that we needed to replace Rep. Gillibrand here in NY-20, and we had a special election for that in 2009. I remember that well since I worked on his (Scott Murphy) campaign. He won then but then had to run for reelection in 2010 - and he lost.

[RhodeIslandOne]

7. Governor could appoint an interim, but a special election has to be held within 145 days.

Both Scott Brown and Markey were special election winners, filling Kennedy and Kerry's seats.