Received an e-mail today from Senator Mazie Hirono (D. HI) who is campaigning for Congressman Ed Markey (D. MA) who is running in the 2013 Massachusetts U.S. Senate race for Secretary of State John Kerry's (D. MA) seat:
On Tuesday night, my former House colleague, Ed Markey, won the Democratic nomination in the special election to replace John Kerry in the U.S. Senate -- and I couldn't be more excited at the prospect of serving with Ed again.
I've always admired him for his tireless leadership on clean and renewable energy, an important issue for Hawaii and our nation -- and his would be a welcome voice in the Senate.
But Republicans are far less enthusiastic about a progressive like Ed Markey coming to the Senate.
In the [XX] hours since Ed became the Democratic nominee, right-wing groups from across the country have descended on Massachusetts to attack Ed and prop up his Republican opponent. He needs our help, especially since the general election is next month.
Click here to help send a true progressive to the U.S. Senate. Rush $5 Ed Markey's U.S. Senate campaign today:
https://secure.actblue.com/...
As you may well remember, the last time there was a special Senate election in Massachusetts, Republican Scott Brown stunned political observers when he unexpectedly won Ted Kennedy's former seat. That nearly derailed health care reform.
We Democrats can't let that happen again, especially with so many issues coming before the Senate over the next several months -- from reforming our immigration system to how to protect critical programs for our keiki and kupuna.
This time around, we're going to be prepared -- by making sure Ed Markey has all the support he needs.
Will you help?
Rush $5 to Ed Markey -- and make sure we don't have another Republican upset win in Massachusetts:
https://secure.actblue.com/...
With your help, I will soon be able to once again call Ed my colleague -- and we'll have another progressive champion in the Senate.
Mahalo,
Mazie Hirono
U.S. Senator
You can click here to donate:
https://secure.actblue.com/...
PPP released their latest poll on this race today and they have Markey leading businessman Gabriel Gomez (R. MA), 44-40:
http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/...
Gomez is starting out as a pretty popular candidate, with 41% of voters rating him favorably to 27% with an unfavorable opinion. Beyond having good numbers with Republicans he's at 42/24 with independents, and actually seen narrowly positively even by Democrats at 33/32. Voters meanwhile are more divided on Markey, with 44% holding a positive view of him to 41% with a negative one. He's at 31/50 with independents.
For a Republican to be competitive in Massachusetts they need to win independents by a hefty margin and get a fair amount of crossover support from Democrats, and right now Gomez is doing both of those things. He's up 47/31 with independents and winning over 21% of Democratic voters. Both those numbers suggest that some folks who supported Stephen Lynch in the primary are being a little reticent about supporting Markey in the general.
To put Gomez's 16 point lead with independents in context though, our final poll in the 2010 special election found Scott Brown winning them by a 64/32 margin. So he still has a long way to go to replicate the formula that let Brown pull off that upset.
One reason the race is surprisingly competitive is that we are seeing an electorate that's about 5 points more Romney friendly than the results of the election in Massachusetts in November. That sort of enthusiasm gap was a big part of what let Brown win in 2010 and what more broadly allowed Republicans to be successful nationally that year, and it's something Markey will have to try to erase over the next couple months.
The good news for Markey in the poll beyond the obvious fact that he's in the lead is that Barack Obama remains pretty popular in the state. He has a 53/41 approval rating. Obama was at only 44/43 when Brown won in 2010 and the President's lack of popularity was a big contributor to the upset. He's in a much better position this time around. The pool of undecided voters also sets up well for Markey- they voted for Obama by 18 points in November, 32% are liberals compared to only 25% who are conservatives, and 61% of them are women. Those are all demographics that ought to end up favorable to him in the end. - PPP, 5/3/13
First Lady Michelle Obama will be coming to Boston to fundraise for Markey:
http://www.boston.com/...
In the first sign that Democrats are preparing to pull out the party’s big financial guns for US Senate nominee Edward J. Markey, Michelle Obama is scheduled to appear at a Boston fund-raiser for the Malden congressman later this month, an event that can collect up to $37,600 from an individual donor.
The First Lady, who is making her first fund-raising appearance since the November presidential election, will headline the party at the Taj Boston on May 29, according to a copy of the invitation that has been sent out to the party’s big donors.
“The White House has made it clear it will do anything the Markey campaign wants of it,’’ said one senior Democratic leader who is raising funds for the congressman’s senatorial race.
That person said that President Obama, too, is likely to make an appearance in Massachusetts for Markey before the June 25 election if the campaign requests his help. Markey, a 36-year veteran of the US House, is facing Gabriel E. Gomez, a Cohasset businessman and former Navy SEAL who, in a major upset, captured the GOP nomination in his first attempt in a statewide race. - Boston Globe, 5/2/13
The election is Tuesday, June 25th. If you would like to get involved with the Markey campaign and with GOTV efforts, you can go here:
http://www.edmarkey.com/