Westport has many good friends of our Senator Ed Markey. If you are among them, we applaud your civil commitment to him.  However, if you are undecided as to who to choose in the Democratic primary for US Senate on September 1^st , consider, as we have, to thank Sen. Markey and Leader Schumer for carrying us through the last century and to pass the torch to Seth Moulton to oppose the Republican candidate (a wealthy crypto investor) and the MAGA machine come November and through this one.

 Seth earned a physics degree from Harvard and a commission as a Marine officer in June 2011. He became a decorated infantry commander who served four tours in Iraq. He now represents the North Shore in Congress where he led creation of the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, connecting millions of Americans to mental health services and saving the equivalent of a Boeing 737 in lives every month. He’s authored legislation to expand disability coverage for ALS-affected families and to modernize the Veteran’s administration. He’s received national attention for taking on Pete Hegseth and his phony “Department of War.”

At home, Seth helped deliver more than $1 billion to North Shore communities, supported small businesses and research hubs, and forged partnerships between fishermen, scientists, and entrepreneurs to strengthen the local economy and protect our coastline. He’s been a champion for European-quality High Speed Rail, which will cut hours off the time needed to travel across the Commonwealth, take millions of cars off the road, and open up tremendous job and housing opportunities in the SouthCoast and across Massachusetts.

 Don’t buy the knock on Seth as self-centered, indecisive and lacking progressive gravitas because he takes a nuanced approach to solving tough issues (i.e., wanting to explore a blended private health insurance/public “option” versus his opponent’s idea to force everyone into an ambiguous, untested government run program called “Medicare for All”; knowing that distinctions in AI are not “irrelevant” and tough guardrails need to be expertly tailored to preserve the opportunities that AI can provide; and recognizing that trans kids and girls who play sports both have rights). As anyone who has served knows, you don’t earn a Bronze Star by being indecisive or putting self over country.

 Interesting that during the August 20th debate, Sen. Markey called Seth Moulton “Senator”. We hope he’s the first of many.

John K. Bullard
Paul M. Stein

Westport