Locked shampoo and woke politics: Will Auchincloss take on Markey?

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It's all shadowboxing right now. Auchincloss, 37, has said he is running for reelection. Still, when asked in the spring if he might challenge Markey,
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Representative Jake Auchincloss joined protesters on June 1 outside of Milford Town Hall a day after 18-year-old Marcelo Gomes da Silva was detained by ICE.
Jessica Rinaldi/Globe Staff
Like Markey, Auchincloss is up for reelection in 2026. So he would have to give up his House seat to run a primary race against Markey. That didn't work out for his predecessor, Joe Kennedy III, who challenged Markey in 2020 and lost that election, along with his seat in Congress. But that was a different time, when Markey's wokeness, best illustrated by the endorsement he received from Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, was a cherished prize.
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Today, Democrats are trying to negotiate the new, furiously unwoke world of MAGA, in which a deportation center for undocumented immigrants is located in the Florida Everglades, the better to watch would-be escapees try to evade hungry alligators. In Massachusetts, Governor Maura Healey is kicking migrants out of hotel shelters and Auchincloss is expressing concerns about 'degradations to public order,' such as drug use, loitering, panhandling, encampments, vandalism, and shoplifting that could 'compound into lawlessness.'
In MAGA world, both Markey and Auchincloss would be considered soft on 'degradations to public order.'
Auchincloss didn't get into such nuance in his blog post. He just talked about how Democrats get less popular 'every time a customer has to ask the CVS clerk to unlock the shampoo.'
Markey, meanwhile, shows no signs of running from the progressive label.
Last month,
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Message to fellow Democrats: As long as Markey is upright, he's running.
When it comes to progressive cred, the biggest endorsement that Markey could get would still come from AOC. Will he get another nod from her? Her press office did not respond to a question about that. If Representative Ayanna Pressley, a member of the House progressive 'squad' that includes AOC, got into the race, that could influence the calculation.
From the Markey camp comes word that he and Ocasio-Cortez continue to have a close relationship and are collaborating on a wide range of legislation. At the right time, there is reason to believe there would be 'a celebration of that partnership,' a Markey source said.
AOC's most recent endorsement went to Mamdani. In giving him her blessing, she
Across the country, including in Massachusetts, Democrats are adjusting to the MAGA era. Shortly after last November's election, Representative Seth Moulton, who represents Massachusetts' Sixth District and who is also mentioned by political insiders as a possible Markey challenger, worried out loud about the safety of his children if they must compete against transgender athletes.
Given the shifting political ground, is an endorsement from AOC as valuable to Markey in 2026 as it was in 2020? Or does he risk looking too woke?
To put it another way — is running against locked-up shampoo a winning strategy for Auchincloss?
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Something to chew on, along with your Fourth of July hotdog.
Joan Vennochi is a Globe columnist. She can be reached at