Senator Edward Markey (D-Mass.) is getting comfortable in Congress after winning the special election on June 25 to fill now Secretary of State John Kerry's vacated seat. Markey gave his first speech on the floor of the Senate this Wednesday, making promises to improve legislation on clean energy, Internet privacy and gun control, according to an article published in the Boston Herald on Wednesday.
Tufts Democrats worked hard last semester on Markey's campaign, and members are happy to see the Massachusetts native in his new position on Capitol Hill.
"We're proud to have another great democrat in the Senate," President of Tufts Democrats Jacob Wessel said.
Politicians with links to Massachusetts, however, have been critical of Markey's early Senate performance. Most recently, his decision to vote "present" during a Foreign Relations Committee vote on a Sept. 4 resolution - one that would give President Obama limited authority to use force against Syria - prompted criticism.
"Please let [Markey] know that the people of MA did not send him down there to vote 'present,' they sent him down there to at least vote," Former Massachusetts Republican Senator Scott Brown (LA '81) wrote on Facebook. "He gets a check, he should vote. I did not agree with John Kerry on much, but at least he would have had the guts to vote. Markey said he needs more time to analyze the information. He sits on the committee that gets all the information."
Tufts Republicans President Bennett Gillogly endorsed this position given Markey's voting history.
"Ed Markey's [37]-year tenure in the House of Representatives has always been characterized by legislative inaction," he said. "I would hope that Senator Markey would have taken more of a leadership role in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearings."
Wessel defended the newly-elected Senator and shared high hopes for his time in the Senate.
"He's new, he's the least senior member of the Senate right now, so that's a weird shift for him, from being one of the most senior members of the House to now going to be the freshman in the group," Wessel said. "He's just getting the ball rolling, getting his office set up, and we're hoping for great things."
Democrats will now look to fill Markey's vacated seat, representing Massachusetts's 5th congressional district in the House of Representatives, to partner with eight other Democratic representatives from Massachusetts. Wessel expressed his enthusiasm about the upcoming special election.
"We hope that with the special election, [we can show] that the Democratic Party in Massachusetts is not going to fall asleep at the wheel [after Scott Brown's win] in 2010," Wessel said, referring to Brown's unexpected win over Attorney General Martha Coakley nearly three years ago. "We're a strong force that has a great ground game and a huge talent pool, and we're ready to keep on chugging when it comes to the Mass. 5 race, or races in 2014. The party is as strong as ever, and we're glad to see that it's that way."
With the Democratic primaries coming up in less than a month, Tufts Democrats is in the process of looking at all six candidates in order to decide which to support.
"We're hoping right now in these stages to get the candidates to come to Tufts, or at least to arrange some sort of meeting between the candidates and Tufts students and to also have all sorts of people, whether they are engaged in Tufts Democrats or not - engaging with the campaigns, whether that's interning, or volunteering, or going to events," Wessel said.
Tufts Republicans have chosen a different strategy for the primaries, declining to endorse any candidate according to official club policy, Gillogly said. The general election is Dec. 10.
"After the primary, Tufts Republicans look[s] forward to supporting the Republican candidate in a special election focusing on the state and national economy, and an evaluation of the president's policies," Gillogly said.
With the first round of voting quickly approaching - 25 days away at press time - campaigns will have to move fast to engage the student vote.
"We want to make sure the youth vote is strong and very present in this race," Wessel said. "It's a weird time of the year to have an election in the middle of October, but we're hoping that with enough publicity and enough engagement, that students, whether its at Tufts or at the other five campuses in the district, that students can really be a strong force in this race."
Democratic candidate Carl Sciortino (LA '00) agreed that student participation is critical.
"In this particular election, the student vote and student involvement as interns and volunteers is incredibly important," Sciortino said. "This is going to be a special election in just over a month where the turnout will likely be very low. There's the potential for there to be a very close election where a number of students turning out for voting, or getting involved in getting other people to vote, could potentially swing the outcome of the election."
Sciortino has served on the Massachusetts House of Representatives since 2005, representing the Middlesex District, which includes Medford and Somerville. His time serving in this position has been defined by a progressive agenda focusing on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) issues, marriage equality and women's rights.
"I am the candidate with the strongest record of progressive leadership and accomplishment of all the candidates in the field," Sciortino said. "I have never backed down from some of the toughest fights or controversial issues."
Sciortino said his fight for LGBT rights started here at Tufts. He co-founded the Rainbow House as an undergraduate and helped organize the first annual Freedom to Marry Day in the Mayer Campus Center.
"We bought a three-tier wedding cake, and we had a bride and bride, and a groom and groom, on top. We had the LGBT staff come to the campus center and cut the cake, and [we] had a big ceremony honoring the idea of 'freedom to marry.' At that time, the idea to marry was a pipe dream that was something to strive for but would probably never happen."
At the local level, Sciortino has spent much of his time in office working on the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) Green Line extension to bring the trains through Medford and Somerville.
"That's a project that is incredibly important to me because it's investment in public transportation and infrastructure and will benefit people by accessing jobs and housing," Sciortino said.
Sciortino will be up against six other Democratic candidates including Senators Will Brownsberger (D-Belmont), Katherine Clark (D-Melrose) and Karen Spilka (D-Ashland), as well as Middlesex County Sheriff Peter Koutoujian. Two lesser known candidates include former Lexington School committee member Martin Long and Stoneham resident Paul Maisano.
According to Sciortino, the stakes are high for this race due to a variety of factors.
"Whoever wins this seat will potentially serve for many years to come," Sciortino said. "My predecessor Ed Markey served for [37] years, and it is likely the winner could serve just as long, so this election means the opportunity to influence American politics for decades."
"We're going to have this representative for quite some time, I think, and that affects us quite a bit," Wessel said.
Tufts Republicans are strategizing to advocate for the importance of Republican representation from Massachusetts in the House.
"Massachusetts already has eight Democrats in the House of Representatives, which is going to undoubtedly maintain a Republican majority in 2014," Gillogly said. "A Republican representative from Massachusetts could help bring more political sway from our state by way of committee positions and influence with Republican leadership.
Once the Democratic and Republican candidates are solidified after Oct. 15, a more partisan debate will emerge over hot issues including the economy and the implementation of the Affordable Care Act.
"Massachusetts has always hosted the nation's largest and most profitable medical device companies," Gillogly said. "Provisions of the Affordable Care Act are going to enact a 2.3 percent excise tax nationwide on medical device equipment; that is going to raise taxes $422 million dollars for 19 of the largest companies in a state that is already ranked the 47th worst to do business in."
Sciortino shared the opposing view for economic reform.
"The growing gap between the rich and the poor has only worsened over my entire lifetime of 35 years," he said. "We need to have policies that help lift people out of poverty, lift the minimum wage and deal with fairness across the spectrum, such as closing corporate tax loopholes and stopping subsidies to big oil and big corporations."
For others, this special election has already revealed the effects of such a dominant Democratic voter base.
"The overwhelmingly democratic electorate in Massachusetts fails to hold accountable the democratic lawmakers who usually hold office unendingly despite their lack of influence," Gillogly said.
Voting registration will be going on all week in the campus center. Sept. 24 is National Voter Registration day, and the last day to register to vote is Sept. 25.
"You shouldn't be able to walk around campus on Sept. 24 without having people try to register you to vote," Wessel said. "I would hope that it becomes an annual tradition that Tufts joins in with partners from all around the country and say[s], 'We're going to make sure all of our students are registered to vote.'"
