Friday, February 1, 2013

U.S. Senate win by Lynch would set off musical chairs

By Chris Burrell

Within hours of U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch announcing his candidacy for the Senate, cogs began to turn in the minds of local politicians: What if Lynch wins the special election in June and his congressional seat opens up?

It could be a tantalizing step up the political ladder, and names are already being bandied about.

Some of the politicians said they’d make a run or give it serious thought if a race for the state’s 8th Congressional District became a reality.

“There will be a mad rush to fill that seat,” said political science professor Paul Watanabe, who lives in Weymouth and teaches at the University of Massachusetts campus in Dorchester. “And the thing about a large field ... is that you may not have to win a lot of votes to emerge from it, far less than a majority.”

Among the names being talked about are state Rep. Nick Collins of South Boston, state Sen. John Keenan, D-Quincy, state Sen. Brian A. Joyce, D-Milton, former Brockton Mayor John Yunits, state Sen. Thomas Kennedy, D-Brockton, and state Sen. Robert Hedlund, R-Weymouth.

Only Keenan offered a decisive answer.

“I would absolutely be interested,” said Keenan, a fixture in Quincy politics since the 1990s, a former Quincy city councilor and brother-in-law of Mayor Thomas Koch.
Joyce, who ran for Lynch’s seat in a 2001 primary, spots an opportunity there, too.

“Should an opening occur, I’d certainly take a look at it and decide if it’s right not just for me but my family,” he said. “A lot of people would look at an open congressional seat in a special election. You don’t have to risk your current position, and it would be a sprint.”

Both Joyce and Stonehill College Professor Peter Ubertaccio agreed that name recognition and money would be big factors in such a race.

A congressional seat typically requires multi-million-dollar spending, said Ubertaccio, but a short campaign would favor candidates with deeper ties to the community.

“They have a Rolodex of people who know how to get the vote out and know how to organize precinct by precinct,” Ubertaccio said.

As the second-largest city in the congressional district, Brockton could also be a launch pad for prospective candidates.

John Yunits, the former mayor, said he considered the seat in 2001 following the death of U.S. Rep. Joseph Moakley but decided to back Lynch.

“But you never say never in this kind of thing,” Yunits said. “You keep your options open.”
On the Republican side, the most obvious name is the candidate who ran against Lynch last November, Joseph Selvaggi.

“I wanted to represent the district in 2012, and I’d be delighted to work for that again in 2013,” he said. “I would ask my party if my message would be something they’d want.”

Weymouth’s Republican state senator, Robert Hedlund, hasn’t been thinking about a hypothetical 8th District race, but said both Democrats and Republicans were encouraging him Thursday to consider running for Kerry’s Senate seat if former U.S. Sen. Scott Brown declines to enter the race.

“It’s probably not in the cards,” Hedlund said. “I’m expecting Scott Brown to run.”

Unlike the statewide U.S. Senate race, Ubertaccio said he is is confident the 8th Congressional District contest would be a Democrats’ race. The potential contest to replace Lynch could turn into a fierce Democratic Party battle between Brockton and Quincy politicians, he added.