Centrist Independent Voter endorses Representative Seth Moulton in Massachusetts’s September 1 Democratic primary for the United States Senate.
Senator Ed Markey is an experienced legislator, but he is substantially further to the left than Centrist Independent Voter would prefer. His approach to taxation, health care, energy and the role of government often resembles that of Senator Elizabeth Warren and the Democratic Party’s activist wing. Moulton is hardly a centrist, but on several important issues he is more balanced, more pragmatic and more willing to challenge his party.
Primary elections permit voters to consider not only whether an incumbent is capable of continuing to serve, but also which candidate offers the stronger leadership for the next six years.
Moulton offers that alternative.
National Security and Foreign Policy
A Marine Corps veteran who completed four tours in Iraq, Moulton has represented Massachusetts’s 6th Congressional District since 2015. He serves on the House Armed Services Committee and has developed substantial experience with defense, nuclear strategy and America’s relationships with its allies. He supported assistance to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan while also insisting that presidents cannot take the country into war without congressional authorization.
That combination matters. The United States needs leaders who understand the importance of military strength and international alliances without treating every conflict as an invitation to unchecked presidential warfare.
Willingness to Challenge His Party
Moulton has also demonstrated a willingness to challenge his own party. In 2018 he led opposition to Nancy Pelosi’s return as Speaker and publicly suggested Representative Marcia Fudge of Ohio as a possible alternative. Fudge ultimately did not run, and Moulton’s effort failed to prevent Pelosi from becoming Speaker. But Moulton and several other dissidents eventually reached an agreement with Pelosi under which she supported limits on how long Democratic leaders could remain in their positions and they supplied votes she needed to become Speaker.
That episode is worth remembering. Challenging your party does not always mean winning. Moulton opposed entrenched leadership, sought an alternative and ultimately accepted a compromise that produced at least part of the change he was seeking.
He later raised concerns about President Biden’s age before many other Democrats were willing to do so and has argued that Democrats must speak candidly about difficult cultural and political questions rather than suppress discussion for fear of offending party activists.
Centrist Independent Voter does not agree with everything Moulton has said or proposed. But political courage includes the willingness to raise uncomfortable subjects, accept criticism and continue the argument.
A More Practical Domestic Agenda
On domestic policy, Moulton generally offers a more practical approach than Markey.
He favors a national public health-insurance option that would compete with private plans rather than immediately replacing them with a single government system. Centrist Independent Voter opposes a public option. A government insurance plan, in our view, is likely to be subsidized on terms private insurers cannot match, creating the risk that what begins as an additional choice gradually crowds private insurance out of the market—the proverbial camel’s nose under the tent.
Nevertheless, a public option is preferable to immediately replacing private insurance with a single government plan. If experience demonstrates that it works badly, voters still have a functioning private insurance system to which they can return.
Moulton’s housing program is similarly mixed. He supports a variety of demand-side subsidies and interventions that we view as counterproductive.
But important parts of his housing agenda also address the underlying shortage directly. He would lower barriers to infill development, encourage accessory dwelling units, reward communities that permit additional housing near transit and jobs, provide density bonuses and eliminate some parking requirements. Those supply-side reforms are much closer to Centrist Independent Voter’s preferred approach to housing affordability.
His energy program includes clean energy, next-generation nuclear power and permitting reform. His longstanding advocacy of high-speed and regional rail is ambitious and expensive, but it addresses genuine problems of congestion, housing access and regional economic development.
His work on mental health—including his role in establishing and funding the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline—also reflects an ability to turn personal experience and broad objectives into practical government action.
Important Reservations
There are important reservations.
Moulton proposes financing much of his affordability program through a national wealth tax. Centrist Independent Voter opposes wealth taxation because of its administrative complexity, uncertain valuation, opportunities for avoidance, discouragement of productive investment and the risk that, at sufficiently high rates, it becomes confiscatory. We already have an estate-tax system that, although it could use reform, provides the necessary tool for limiting intergenerational wealth inequality.
His proposals to prohibit private-equity purchases of homes and leveraged acquisitions of hospitals are also too sweeping. Private equity is not presumptively harmful; the government should address fraud, excessive leverage, conflicts of interest and threats to essential services rather than condemn an entire form of ownership.
Moulton’s personal investments present another legitimate concern. Financial disclosures show that he and his wife acquired substantial interests in private companies that later developed business relationships with the defense sector while he served on the Armed Services Committee. The investments were not prohibited by congressional rules, and Moulton announced that he would place the assets in a blind trust. Nevertheless, the appearance of conflict was foreseeable, and he should have acted earlier.
Experience Versus Entrenchment
Markey’s age should not by itself determine the election. But he would be 80 at the beginning of another six-year term, after nearly half a century in Congress. In a party that has too frequently resisted generational transition, voters are entitled to consider whether experience has become entrenchment.
Moulton offers substantial experience of his own, combined with a greater willingness to question party leadership and appeal beyond its most ideological constituencies. Recent polling finds him strongest among moderate Democrats and unenrolled voters.
The Choice
For Democrats, this is not a choice between a good Democrat and a bad one. It is a choice between preserving familiar left-wing leadership and selecting a candidate better suited to the political, strategic and institutional challenges of the coming decade.
Seth Moulton combines national-security expertise, political independence, practical achievements and the potential to speak to voters beyond the Democratic base. His economic program contains proposals that deserve opposition, and his investments warrant scrutiny. On balance, however, he offers Massachusetts and the country the stronger choice.
Centrist Independent Voter endorses Seth Moulton in the Democratic primary for the United States Senate from Massachusetts.