There Are Officially Two People Running for Senate

Just when Ed Markey was starting to think he might win John Kerry's Senate seat by default (okay, realistically he wasn't ever thinking that) his colleague in the House of Representatives Stephen Lynch has released a video announcing his candidacy and will hold an event Thursday afternoon to do the same.

Lynch had already hinted strongly that he would run, and this confirms that despite some early endorsements from major players in the Democratic Party, Markey's still going to face a primary challenge. Lynch's run being a foregone conclusion for awhile now, politiical observers have already spent some time imagining the issues that will dominate the contest between them, and Lynch's social conservatism seems to be the most notable among them. Buzzfeed's Andrew Kaczynski is already asking “Is Stephen Lynch Too Conservative To Win In Massachusetts?” citing his opposition to abortion and history of opposing gay rights. And at Tuseday's State of the City, Markey seemed to indirectly highlight that, too, telling a Globe reporter, “My focus is going to be on climate change and equality for women and for gays in society.” Lynch, meanwhile, is going to play the outsider versus insider dynamic, using Markey's early establishment endorsements and, presumably, the house in Maryland to cast himself as the “scrappy outsider unbeholden to the Washington establishment,” as the Globe puts it. At any rate, the primary election is slated for April 30, so expect to hear more from both of them in the next few months.