Another major Democratic upset took place Tuesday night, signaling boundless enthusiasm and restlessness from the party’s progressive wing.
The Daily Beast reports:
Ayanna Pressley, the 44-year-old Boston City Councilor, triumphed over 20-year incumbent Rep. Michael Capuano (D-MA) by a double-digit margin. It was the primary season’s second stunning ousting of a long-term lawmaker by a female progressive challenger and another indicator that the liberal base is hungering for something new in their representation.
Massachusetts’ 7th District, the only majority-minority district in the liberal state, once sent President John F. Kennedy to Congress and was viewed prior to Tuesday’s contest as the kind of area that was ripe for a shakeup. Coupled with Pressley’s compelling candidacy, a late primary the day after Labor Day, and district lines that were redrawn in 2011, Capuano was clearly vulnerable.
Just over an hour after polls closed at 8, there was chatter among those at Capuano’s victory party that the congressman was preparing to concede. Minutes later he did so, long before the race had been officially called.
“I’m sorry it didn’t work out, but this is life, and this is OK,” Capuano said around 9:15. “America’s going to be OK. Ayanna Pressley is going to be a good congresswoman, and I will tell you that Massachusetts will be well served.”
While Pressley and Capuano did not have substantive policy differences, we should note the incumbent expressed a willingness to fund President’s Trump’s border wall if Congress concurrently passed border immigration reforms.
Additionally, Capuano voted for a “Blue Lives Matter” bill imposing harsher sentences for crimes against police officers, something Pressley also used as a successful wedge issue.
AAN Staff
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