Seeing Red and Voting Blue

When you live in Massachusetts, voting in the Democratic statewide primary makes sense, regardless of your political views. As a pro-life conservative who wants more physical barriers along the U.S-Mexico border and thinks two genders (determined at birth) exist, I plan to vote in the statewide Democratic primary—as I did two years ago.

I got the idea to vote in a Democratic primary in 2019 but never executed it until September 2022. If either Tulsi Gabbard or Andrew Yang ran a competitive race in the 2020 presidential primary, I wanted to vote for them to improve the options in the November general election. Since Yang dropped out early and Gabbard was behind Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, and Mike Bloomberg—four politicians I detest—in the polls, I stayed out of that race. Trump got my vote, as he did on Super Tuesday this year.

Gabbard opposed wars and big tech censorship (an issue right-wing media cared about in the late-2010s) and had somewhat more moderate social views (she’s since moved right), making her a palatable president if Trump, unfortunately, lost.

I also found the idea appealing in the 2020 statewide primary with Joe Kennedy running against Ed Markey for U.S. Senate. It was a dumb race, with Markey and Kennedy holding identical positions—and Kennedy benefitting from his last name (the same reason I can’t take anti-vax crackpot Robert F. Kennedy Jr. seriously). I preferred Markey, despite vehemently opposing his platform, for a couple of reasons. One is that everyone knew a Democrat would win that election. The other is that if the younger Kennedy won, he may hold the seat for 36, 42, or 48 years. I preferred risking six more years of ineffectual and dopey Markey than effectively giving the young and bright member of a political dynasty a lifetime appointment to the U.S. Senate. A Kennedy loss also meant tarnishing the family's reputation—something well-deserved for what Ted Kennedy did to Mary Jo Kopechne.

Unfortunately, I failed to change my voter registration in time to vote in that primary. All I could do was vote to prevent crackpot Shiva Ayyadurai from being the GOP's sacrificial lamb nominee for U.S. Senate—not that he had a chance in a low-name-recognition primary against a guy with the last name O'Connor. That's especially true in the Irish Riviera where I lived, where a guy with the last name Burke can trounce a Rodrigues in a primary without much campaigning.

Two years later, I finally voted in a Democratic statewide primary. It was the right decision. The only competitive GOP primaries were for governor and lieutenant governor, and everyone knew Maura Healey had a landslide victory coming in the November 2022 general election. She previously had two statewide victories in Attorney General races. At least the Democratic primary had some notable races.

Longtime Secretary of State Bill Galvin, a moderate Democrat, faced a left-wing challenger who criticized Galvin for not using his office to push for abortion and for identifying as personally pro-life. Galvin's office runs smooth elections, accepts election results, and is always helpful whenever people contact him, so why replace him? Meanwhile, State Senator Diana DiZoglio ran for Auditor against a more progressive opponent on a platform that included auditing the opaque and corrupt state legislature, where most rank-and-file Democrats are puppets for leadership. In a state where Democrats have held a legislative supermajority in both chambers for over 30 years, taking on the people in charge and advocating for more transparency in government is admirable. Now, DiZoglio is leading a ballot initiative to make the audit happen this November; she has earned my vote in the general election if she runs again.

I also threw a protest vote against Healey, the pro-illegal immigrant governor—not that it mattered.

Next month is no different, despite fewer statewide races on the ballot. The Fourth District Governor's Council race caught my interest because Stacey Borden, a primary challenger to longtime incumbent Democrat Christopher Iannella, has previously expressed support for abolishing prisons. She also has many progressive endorsements, including one from Ayanna Pressley. The Governor's Council is an eight-member weekly lunch club that meets on Wednesdays to confirm judges and approve pardons and commutations.

I support abolishing the Governor's Council, an unnecessary layer of bureaucracy, but that said, having an anti-prison activist on the Governor's Council is a terrible idea. Murderers, rapists, and fentanyl dealers abound—and someone who wants to empty our prisons is a threat to an orderly and stable country. Advocate for better prison conditions and sentencing reform, but forgive me for not wanting a rubber stamp for heinous criminals on an eight-member board. I wish governors exercised their pardon powers more and commend Gov. Healey for pardoning past marijuana offenders, but incarcerating the worst among us saves lives.

I will never vote for Elizabeth Warren. Regardless of what else I find on the ballot, I know it's wiser than picking Warren's sacrificial lamb opponent. Then, in November, I can waste my vote writing in "abolish" for Governor's Council and voting Republican for U.S. Senate and president. I'm more interested in the ballot questions anyway.