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Mass Senate race is anything but ordinary

Social distance campaigning, mail-in ballots confound pundits, strategists for Markey and Kennedy

Yawu Miller
Yawu Miller is the former senior editor of the Bay State Banner. He has written for the Banner since 1988.... VIEW BIO
Mass Senate race is anything but ordinary
U.S. Sen. Ed Markey (left) and U.S. Rep. Joe Kennedy. BANNER FILE PHOTOS

In an ordinary early August, the Democratic primary is a distant thought as cookouts, vacations and lazy beach days occupy the average Bostonian’s imagination.

But in the midst of a global pandemic, the primary battle between U.S. Rep. Joe Kennedy and Sen. Edward Markey bears few of the hallmarks of an ordinary campaign. Among the more extraordinary developments: Voters are already casting their ballots, three weeks before the September 1 primary date.

With polls putting Kennedy and Markey in a too-close-to-call final stretch of the race, both sides are gearing up their get-out-the-vote operations. On Kennedy’s side, Suffolk County Sheriff Steve Tompkins is part of the Boston voter mobilization effort.

“My team is about to do a series of standouts,” Tompkins said, referring to the practice of crowding an intersection with sign-bearing supporters.

Tompkins’ political organization will also participate in phone banking and other get-out-the-vote activities.

On the Markey side, operatives have eschewed standouts as too dangerous during the COVID pandemic, according to John Walsh, Markey’s campaign manager.

“We have the bodies to do it,” he said. “It’s just not safe.”

Instead, the Markey campaign has conducted more than 350,000 phone calls to registered voters, Walsh said. Many calls were made through a strategy Walsh refers to as a “digitally-infused relational model,” the main feature of which is that volunteers prioritize phone calls to friends and acquaintances.

“We’re running an old-fashioned campaign, in that it’s person-to-person,” Walsh said.

The campaigns’ get-out-the-vote focus comes amid a barrage of television advertising marked by Kennedy’s and his supporters’ aggressive attacks on Markey. The Kennedy campaign has been running ads since May. Markey’s first ad appeared July 23. While not mentioning Kennedy in the ad, Markey’s line, “My father was a milkman. I drove an ice cream truck to pay for college” is an attempt to contrast himself with Kennedy, who inherited wealth and is said to be worth $43 million.

Kennedy responded to Markey’s ad Aug. 8 with an online-only attack ad featuring an International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers executive who walks the same Malden streets featured in Markey’s ad while criticizing a Markey telecom bill he says put hundreds of union members out of work.

Kennedy’s campaign seemed to gain traction last week when the father of DJ Henry, a college student who was killed in New York by a police officer, went public with a story about his failed attempt to get Markey to press for an investigation into the killing. Markey’s history of opposing busing has also dogged him during the campaign.

Kennedy, too, has had his share of race-related controversy. In college, he joined a the Stanford chapter of a fraternity with a racially-charged history. He disaffiliated last year, before entering the Senate race. Kennedy has also drawn fire for working under District Attorney Michael O’Keefe, a law-and-order Republican who is among the most conservative prosecutors in the state.

The race has never been about policy differences between the two, both of whom are running as progressives. Kennedy’s attack ads demonstrate the difficulty he has had in making the case for his candidacy against an incumbent whose policies are palatable to the state’s progressive-leaning primary voters.

“There’s so little difference,” said state Rep. Russell Holmes, who endorsed Markey last year. “It’s just going to come down to whether folks want leadership or experience.”

Where Kennedy has faced backlash is in the perception that his run is more about personal ambition than political conviction. From the early days of the campaign through recent weeks, he has repeatedly been asked to answer the question, “Why are you running?”

Kennedy’s bid has some Democratic activists fearing that the race has drawn millions of dollars and scores of campaign volunteers in an election cycle where Republican-controlled Senate seats and the presidency are in play.

“This is just not the time to do this,” said Democratic National Committee member Melvin Poindexter. “We can’t have 2016 again. We can’t have 2016 again.”

While Poindexter is not expressing support for either candidate, plenty of Black and Latino political leaders have. Both campaigns are putting an emphasis on turning out voters in the state’s cities.

Among Markey’s highest-profile backers are New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and New Jersey Senator Corey Booker. Locally, Markey benefitted from sewing up endorsements of local officials before Kennedy was in the race. Among his backers are Lawrence Mayor Dan Rivera, Boston City Councilor Ricardo Arroyo, State Sen. Sonia Chang-Diaz and state Reps. Carlos Gonzalez, Jose Tosado, Marcos Devers, Frank Moran, Nika Elugardo, Liz Miranda and Bud Williams.

Among those backing Kennedy are the late U.S. Rep. and Civil Rights icon John Lewis. Locally, Kennedy has received endorsements from Tompkins, Framingham Mayor Yvonne Spicer, and state Reps. Jonathan Santiago and Chynah Tyler.

Tyler, who toured Roxbury with Markey the weekend before last, said Kennedy better embodies the leadership called for in the current moment.

“He’s served us,” she said of Markey. “We’re very, very thankful for him. But times change. That means that leadership has to change.”

Last September, polls showed Kennedy with a 14 percentage-point lead over Markey. Two weeks ago, a poll put Markey four points ahead. But pollsters acknowledge their scans of likely voters are confounded by the multitude of variables unique to this pandemic-era election — the advent of mail-in ballots, voters’ potential aversion to polling places with poor ventilation and long lines, and the attention both campaigns are giving to Black and Latino voters, who typically turn out in lower numbers for primaries.

“This election cycle is the most unpredictable we could ever have, with a global pandemic and a president who is actively meddling with the U.S. Postal Service,” said Tito Jackson, who is backing Kennedy. “This is going to come down campaigns going back to the basics and getting out the vote.”