Commonwealth Politics This Week:
Rep. Seth Moulton is reportedly considering a run for Senate against Sen. Ed Markey in 2026. Moulton, a Democrat from Salem currently represents the Massachusetts 6th District in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Moulton would be challenging Markey in a primary race which is set for Sept. 1 of next year. According to the New York Times Moulton has been hiring campaign staff and the campaign could launch as early as October.
Moulton ran a short-lived presidential campaign in 2020, and in 2018 tried but failed to block Rep. Nancy Pelosi from becoming Speaker of the House.
A race against Markey would bring many of Moulton’s core beliefs to the forefront in his campaign. Moulton has repeatedly asserted that he believes a new generation is needed in political leadership and Moulton has branded himself as that new generation.
Markey has said that he will be seeking reelection in 2026, and he is well positioned for a successful run. Markey in 2020 ran a primary campaign against Joseph Kennedy III and won with over 55% of the vote.
In that race, the largest issue was made out to be age and generational differences but Markey was able to align himself with U.S. House Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and built himself a younger and more progressive coalition from the further left wing of the Democratic party.
Markey will be 80 years old at his next election while Moulton is 46. Markey started his career in congress as a representative in 1976. He then ran for senate in the 2012 special election after then Sen. John Kerry was tapped to be Secretary of State by President Obama.
Moulton has just shy of $2.2 million on hand for his campaign that he can use if he does choose to run for senate. Markey has over $2.5 million on hand for his campaign.
From the Big City:
The MBTA’s board of directors approved the agency’s plan to begin ticketing drivers who are illegally stopped or parked in designated bus lanes. The program will also extend to those blocking bus stops, not just those in bus lanes.
The plan is to use new cameras mounted on the outside of MBTA vehicles. These specialized cameras are designed to read license plates and the MBTA will use that information to send drivers fines.
The MBTA says blocking a bus lane with your vehicle will result in fines ranging from $25 to $125.
All vehicles found blocking a bus stop will be subject to a $100 fine regardless of the number of offenses.
The MBTA will begin enforcement on the SL4 and SL5 in early 2026 and the T plans to expand the fines throughout the entire system as more cameras come online.
Read All About It:
1. Thomas Koch, the mayor of Quincy, is under fire for his comments he made about the Catholic Church sex abuse scandal. Koch said in an interview on WBZ radio that the issue “was homosexual issues, not pedophilia.” This is according to the Boston Globe whose Spotlight investigative reporting team uncovered the abuse in 2002.
The comments came as Quincy voters are set to decide whether or not the Mayor’s salary should be raised to $285,000 in 2028 from its current rate of around $151,000. The raise was approved by the city council but a petition successfully had the issue brought to the voters.
2. Boston Mayor Michelle Wu will be unopposed in the November general election. Wu won just over 71% of the vote in the Sept. preliminary election, the incumbent handily beat her principal opponent Josh Kraft who took around 23% of the vote.
Third place candidate Domingos DaRosa took just shy of three percent of the vote. DaRosa hoped to take Kraft’s place on the ballot after he dropped out of the mayoral race a few days after the election.
3. DaRosa needed at least 3,000 votes to get onto the November ballot, but DesRosa only received 2,409 votes in September, according to Boston.com.
This week Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll and others announced the draft plan on permanent graduation requirements for Massachusetts high school students after voters eliminated the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System test requirement last year.
The new plan, announced at an event in Attleboro, is called Vision of a Massachusetts High School Graduate. The plan shows three competency areas each with two separate objectives. The plan states Massachusetts graduates will be “thinkers, contributors and leaders.”
It was created by the Statewide K-12 Graduation Council, which was formed by Gov. Maura Healey through an executive order in January as a result of MCAS being overturned.
4. Starbucks has closed around 15 locations across Massachusetts. Including the iconic steaming kettle location at Government Center which has been open since 1997.
