MA-SEN: Seth Moulton is challenging Ed Markey in the primary, but will he make the ballot?

Massachusetts Rep. Seth Moulton is hoping to unseat Sen. Ed Markey in September’s Democratic primary, but first he must win enough support at the party’s May convention to make the ballot this fall—a potentially difficult task, as the Boston Globe’s Kelly Garrity explains.

To ensure he earns the votes of at least 15% of attendees as required under Democratic Party rules, the more moderate Moulton has been urging independent voters to participate in the delegate selection process currently underway in local party caucuses. To become delegates, though, these voters must re-register as Democrats and actually attend the convention in person.

A failure by Moulton to move on from the convention would, as Garrity says, be “stunning,” but some Massachusetts Democrats aren’t ruling out the possibility.

“It’s a fair question,” said Jim Smith, a Markey supporter and member of the state Democratic Party’s governing committee, told the Globe. “But the guy is a sitting congressman. If he can’t get the 15 percent, the rule is flawed.”




https://www.the-downballot.com/p/morning-digest-seth-moulton-is-challenging