SEIU’s New England regional political director Mac D’Alessandro has taken the primary plunge against incumbent Stephen Lynch. (Lynch, for you Progressive Punch score followers, gets a lousy 2 rating, coming from Massachusetts, and has a lifetime progressive score on “Crucial Votes” of 81.87, which drops to 71.95 when focusing on 2009-2010.)
D’Alessandro promises to be a progressive alternative to Lynch. D’Alessandro’s Facebook group, started this week, is up to almost 900 members. I’d encourage you to join. And he just got on ActBlue. You can help replace ConservaDem Stephen Lynch with a real progressive by making a contribution to Mac D’Alessandro today.
D’Alessandro has also introduced himself to the local progressive netroots at Blue Mass Group:
Greetings, Blue Mass Group! My name is Mac D’Alessandro. I’m the New England Political Director for the Service Employees International Union (SEIU); and, as of this week, I am a candidate for United States Congress from Massachusetts’ 9th district. I am a progressive Democrat, and I’m running for Congress because I believe that the working families in our communities deserve a Congressman who will fight for them and who will actually be a leader on key issues that matter to them – from reforming our health care system (and building on the recently-passed reforms) to holding Wall Street accountable to investing in job creation for our communities to protecting our civil rights and ensuring equal protection under the law.
I have spent my career fighting for working families. I’ve been with the SEIU for nine years. Prior to that, I worked for Greater Boston Legal Services, directing legislative efforts to help families combat poverty. I live in Milton with my wife Jennie, our children Sophie and Atticus, and our cat Nile. Like most families throughout the district and across Massachusetts, my wife and I sit at our kitchen table on a regular basis, going over our bills and the family budget, paying for today while trying to save for tomorrow. We see too often that the well-being of Fortune 500 companies are put in front of the good fortune of working families like ours. That is why I’m running. The 9th district deserves more than just another representative; the district deserves someone who will champion our Democratic ideals in the U.S. House of Representatives as we fight to balance the playing field for working families like ours.
There were 34 House Democrats who opposed health care reform. Lynch was the only one from Massachusetts. And, of those from the 34 who are running for re-election, I still don’t see a lot of primary challenges. Supporting Mac D’Alessandro’s campaign can send a message nationally to Democrats wavering on other issues (like Wall Street reform). Mac very much represents what it means to be a “Better Democrat.” Please spread the word, join the Facebook group, and contribute any amount you can.
MA-09 is very unique among D+11 districts in that it’s not that “progressive” an area. It has some country-club, Reagan Democrats in the wealthy suburbs of Norfolk County, and a lot of white ethnic “JFK Democrats” that reflexively vote the party line but are not all that liberal. It does contain a slice of Boston, but that’s mostly Southie and the white parts of Dorchester, which are working class, and once again, more Democratic than liberal.
IMHO, Lynch is the perfect fit for this district. A progressive would beat a Republican in the general election, but would have a difficult time getting traction in the Democratic primary. If Democrats want a more reliable vote than Lynch out of this district, their best bet is to weaken Capuano a little in redistricting and throw progressive areas like Beacon Hill, Brookline, or Cambridge in with Lynch’s territory. But I don’t see how Lynch loses MA-09 as it is.