Massachusetts 2026 Congressional elections

KCasiglio said:
If you have never encountered the plethora of disingenuous, bad faith actors who insist they are totally moderate to center-left but have been "forced" to vote republican by RaDiCaL lEfTiStS I encourage you to spend 5 minutes perusing the Boston Globe comment section or any local Facebook group.
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Those are propaganda agitators, not any kind of meaningful segment of voters. Please, do not base your understanding of politics on social media commentary.
 
HenryAlan said:
Those are propaganda agitators, not any kind of meaningful segment of voters. Please, do not base your understanding of politics on social media commentary.
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Totally! That was what I was trying to say, that I don't believe people who say this are doing so in good faith.
 
Equilibria said:
...and into the arms of the party that kidnaps people off the streets with armed fascist goons, then illegally cuts aid that keeps people from starving to death, all while pushing baseless conspiracy theories about Tylenol.

But sure, some Democrat once said the word "reparations", so that's totally the same thing.
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Well, some move over to the GOP, while others simply don't vote. Look at the results of the 2020 election vs 2024:
DemocraticJoe BidenKamala Harris81,283,50151.3%
306 / 538
RepublicanDonald TrumpMike Pence74,223,97546.9%
232 / 538

RepublicanDonald TrumpJD Vance77,302,16949.8%
312 / 538
DemocraticKamala HarrisTim Walz75,015,83448.3%
226 / 538

Not only did Trump gain 3 million votes, but even worse, the Dems lost 6 million. That means that whatever the Dems were selling, especially during Covid, the American public wasn't buying.

Why do you think that is? Is it because the Dems are less of a "big tent" than the purport to be? Or is it all liberals and/or leftists?

I have lived overseas for 17 out of the last 21 years, and what I've seen from the American left has been a shift from being the opened minded and progressive to being quite narrow minded and tribal.

It's hard to explain without being anecdotal, but I will. For a few years, I actually moved back to the US in 2010 and lived in Cambridge for a few years. I worked in an environment that was mostly white and very liberal - so much so that I often felt like I had to walk on egg shells out of fear of saying anything wrong.

Years later, I would try to have debates on Facebook, and I'd often get into it with conservatives about health care or gay rights. Sure, they would often wrongly call me a "socialist" or "communist" for taking a left wing position on those, and many other, issues. But it wasn't until I started discussing certain left wing issues (often coming from a center-left or centrist) perspective where I'd often be called "racist," "transphobic" or "xenophobic" because I didn't agree with completely open borders or that a child as young as 3 can choose their gender. Even on a few occasions, a couple of people tried to dox me. And I'm not alone.

As I write this from my office outside of Kuala Lumpur, I work with exactly one other American - an American who had a mother that came to the US illegally from Mexico, but he still voted from Trump, even though he voted for Obama in the past. Why? In his view, the Biden administration was too weak in immigration, which allowed in too many illegal immigrants who were members of gangs and cartels. He would tell me about Mexicans and Mexican-Americans who lived on both sides of the border that were terrified of the cartels and how they often controlled the border better than the US government would. This was his main issue with the left, but there were more.

Was it hyperbole? Yes. Do I get the impression he's starting to regret his vote? Also yes. But he's just one of many people who changed their vote because of areas that the left has refused to object publicly.

"Like, if there's a bunch of Republicans standing around and someone comes up and goes, Hey, I'm Republican. They go like, come on in. There's a bunch of liberals standing around. A liberal comes up and goes, hey, I'm liberal. They're like, we'll see. And like, that is absolutely true. And I'll just say, like, it's a huge fucking problem. Yeah." - John Lovett.

Blocks w/ Neal Brennan - Jon Lovett Transcript and Discussion

Jon Lovett - Blocks w/ Neal Brennan Transcript and Discussion
podscripts.co podscripts.co
 
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Generally speaking, if you're being called racist, transphobic, and xenophobic "often", as you say, some self-examination as to cause-and-effect would be in order. Same with the walking-on-eggshells in front of white liberals thing. It's really, really not hard at all to be not-bigoted in front of people and be regarded by said people as not-bigoted. Most well-meaning and open-minded people manage to go almost their whole lives without having that be a problem for them.

I would suggest that what you are describing is more of a "you" problem than a liberals problem. :rolleyes:
 
F-Line to Dudley said:
Generally speaking, if you're being called racist, transphobic, and xenophobic "often", as you say, some self-examination as to cause-and-effect would be in order. Same with the walking-on-eggshells in front of white liberals thing. It's really, really not hard at all to be not-bigoted in front of people and be regarded by said people as not-bigoted.

I would suggest that what you are describing is more of a "you" problem than a liberals problem. :rolleyes:
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Thank you F-line for perfectly expressing why so many people are fed up with the left, and they're willing vote for a fascist con-man.
 
Apropos of nothing. . .

www.notus.org

Seth Moulton Challenged Democrats Over Trans Rights After The 2024 Election. Not Anymore.

In response to a list of questions from NOTUS, Moulton committed to “support and lead legislation like the Transgender Bill of Rights” if he is elected as Massachusetts’ senator.
www.notus.org www.notus.org
In response to a list of questions from NOTUS, Moulton committed to “support and lead legislation like the Transgender Bill of Rights” if elected as senator.


“I understand that some people were hurt by how I framed my comments in the past, and I take that seriously and have listened to their feedback,” he said.

“My intent has always been to push our party to have honest, tough conversations so we can fight back more effectively against the far-right attacks on LGBTQ Americans. I remain committed to protecting the rights and dignity of transgender Americans and to having these conversations with empathy and respect, even when they’re difficult,” Moulton continued.
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But, but...I was told BiG tEnTs R bAd? Oh noes...now you've done it, Seth! By reading the polling and starting to seek ideological consistency on a set of interrelated issues the Senate election is now totally going to be thrown to Geoff Diehl or Dr. Shiva or whatever stale leftovers the opposition manages to dig up this time.
 
MrDee12345 said:
Not only did Trump gain 3 million votes, but even worse, the Dems lost 6 million. That means that whatever the Dems were selling, especially during Covid, the American public wasn't buying.

Why do you think that is?
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- Genocide in Palestine
- Lack of a primary
- Worsening material conditions, like crippling medical debt, the cost of living, and childcare
- Failure to present any inspiring vision beyond the status quo
- Corporate corruption and disproportionate increase in wealth for the very rich
- Incredibly old, unrelatable, and out-of-touch politicians (and beltway consultants)
- Focusing on appealing to the center-right and punching left

The idea that democrats are unpopular because of "wokeness" is entirely right-wing framing. Harris and Biden ran away from any race or gender language in their 2024 campaign, and they tried to be tough on the border like the Republicans. They tried to pull in people from the center-right, but they lost many on the left. Centrist presidential campaigns haven't been popular since the 90's, and abandoning at-risk groups of the population is not going to change that. While some might argue that Biden was more moderate through the massive turnout in 2020, the primary field (Bernie in particular and Warren too) had a massive impact on orienting his campaign left, not right.
 
samsongam said:
- Genocide in Palestine
- Lack of a primary
- Worsening material conditions, like crippling medical debt, the cost of living, and childcare
- Failure to present any inspiring vision beyond the status quo
- Corporate corruption and disproportionate increase in wealth for the very rich
- Incredibly old, unrelatable, and out-of-touch politicians (and beltway consultants)
- Focusing on appealing to the center-right and punching left
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Well, thank goodness Trump solved all of those problems, then, rather than making them worse... :rolleyes:
 
samsongam said:
They tried to pull in people from the center-right, but they lost many on the left.
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They failed to learn the lesson of more successful efforts to curb the far-right or a Pyutinist/Orbanist, that is, the liberal party's job to promote liberal democracy is to isolate the far-right by campaigning with the left.
 

New Markey-Moulton poll shows Ed Markey slightly expanding his lead over Seth Moulton to 12 points (he beat Joe Kennedy by 9 six years ago), a +3 improvement from November's polling. Both of them destroy Republican John Deaton in hypothetical general election head-to-heads. Still early...tons of undecideds. With our primaries being traditionally so late (Sept. 1) almost no one starts paying attention until summer. But Moulton's not really landing many punches despite tracking lefter since his announcement, so this is so far not shaping up to be as hot a race as some initially speculated.
 
F-Line to Dudley said:

New Markey-Moulton poll shows Ed Markey slightly expanding his lead over Seth Moulton to 12 points (he beat Joe Kennedy by 9 six years ago), a +3 improvement from November's polling. Both of them destroy Republican John Deaton in hypothetical general election head-to-heads. Still early...tons of undecideds. With our primaries being traditionally so late (Sept. 1) almost no one starts paying attention until summer. But Moulton's not really landing many punches despite tracking lefter since his announcement, so this is so far not shaping up to be as hot a race as some initially speculated.
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Fantastic 😬

Instead of having a relatively youngish liberal Democrat in Washington, we'll get another octogenarian.

I doubt these guys have very different views on most issues in Washington, but do we really want to send another old guy back to the Senate?
 
MrDee12345 said:
Fantastic 😬

Instead of having a relatively youngish liberal Democrat in Washington, we'll get another octogenarian.

I doubt these guys have very different views on most issues in Washington, but do we really want to send another old guy back to the Senate?
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I, too, think it's really bad that our federal government is mostly a gerontocracy at this point.

I also think it's a kind of a bad prejudice to not want someone in office just because they're old.

There are specific problems that could make older people bad representatives, and it's probably best to consider those: Cognitive decline is a big worry. Or losing general stamina to do the work. Or health problems keeping them from work. Or losing touch with the problems of younger generations. Or getting complacent in DC. Or losing touch with actual constituents back home. Or clinging to outdated ideas and policies. In some cases when an elected official dies, their seat might go to someone in the other party. (Anyone have any other suggestions?) We can all think of old politicians these have been huge problems for.

Considering those specific possible problems, I think Markey is doing fine. Some of those problems might even apply to him, to some degree. But he seems with it, he keeps seriously working with the Millennials in Congress, he doesn't seem to have gotten complacent. If he dies, I don't worry a Republican will take his seat. And I don't think there's anything about Moulton's youth that makes him obviously better.

But I'm sure other people here know more about Markey than I do. Maybe I'm missing something. But his age doesn't bother me. (And all the same goes for Warren, too, age 76.)
 
MrDee12345 said:
I doubt these guys have very different views on most issues in Washington, but do we really want to send another old guy back to the Senate?
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I thought Moulton’s had a bad record lately when it comes to trans rights. A brief skim of his wiki article said he supported republicans trying to limit racism being discussed in schools.

I’m all for someone taking Markey’s place but it needs to be someone with at least similar levels of integrity.

Edit: I guess a sense or prejudice I have as a younger millennial or older gen z (born in ‘96) is that there seem to be very few actual liberals among gen x. It seems like many in that age group who purport to care about workers, women, and immigrants can’t shake a deep-seated belief that trickle-down economics and patriotism are the most important things to secure a bright future for everyone. Like whenever there’s a crack in the facade it becomes clear that they don’t really support like 40% of the things they say they do.
 
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