Latest news with #EdMarkey
Fox News
4 days ago
- General
- Fox News
Two longtime House Democrats face primary challenges from younger opponents
Two Democrats who've spent decades in Congress this week became the latest in their party to face primary challenges from much younger opponents. Longtime Democratic Maryland Rep. Steny Hoyer has yet to announce whether he will seek re-election next year for a 24th two-year term in Congress. If he does, he will face a primary challenger who is making Hoyer's age — the congressman turns 86 next month and would be 89 at the end of his next term — a centerpiece of his campaign. Meanwhile, 78-year-old Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts—first elected to Congress nearly half a century ago—announced last October that he would seek another six-year term in the Senate. He is now facing a primary challenger who has criticized what he calls the senator's "absence" in pushing back against President Donald Trump. Harry Jarin, 35, a volunteer firefighter and emergency services consultant, said Thursday in a new video announcing his candidacy, "If you live here in southern Maryland, I want to ask you a tough question. Do you really think that Steny Hoyer, at 89-years-old, is the best person to represent us?" "Here's the bottom line: You don't put out a fire by sending in the same people who let it spread. Send in a firefighter," Jarin said. "Maryland deserves a new generation of leadership, and I'm ready to take up the fight." And in an interview with Fox News Digital, Jarin said: "I think we're facing a really serious constitutional crisis… Congress has really declined as an institution over the last three or four years. Congress has surrendered a lot of its legislative power under the Constitution over to the executive branch. I think that's been very corrosive to our political system." Asked about his motivation to primary challenge Hoyer, Jarin said, "It's not just about getting someone younger and fresher in. It's getting someone in who understands the need to revitalize Congress as an institution." Fox News reached out to Hoyer's office for a response, but a spokesperson declined to respond. Hoyer, who first won his seat in Congress in a 1981 special election, from 2003 to 2023, was the second-ranking House Democrat behind Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. He served as House Majority Leader from 2007-2011 and from 2019-2023, when the Democrats controlled the chamber. Along with Pelosi, Hoyer stepped down from his longtime leadership position at the end of 2022 but remained in Congress. "I think all of us have been around for some time and pretty much have a feel for the timing of decisions. And I think all three of us felt that this was the time," Hoyer told CNN at the time, as he referred to the moves by the top three House Democrats — Pelosi, Hoyer and Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C. — to step down from their leadership roles. Hoyer has long been a major backer of the Democrats' top issues, and during his second tenure as House majority leader, he played a crucial role in the passage of then-President Joe Biden's so-called American Rescue Plan and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. He represents Maryland's Democrat-dominated 5th Congressional District, which covers a region known as Southern Maryland, and includes the suburbs south and east of Washington, D.C., a sliver of suburban Baltimore and Annapolis, as well as rural areas farther south. Hoyer, who suffered a minor stroke last year, is the latest high-ranking House Democrat to face a primary challenge from a younger opponent. Pelosi and Reps. Brad Sherman of California and Jan Schakowsky of Illinois have drawn primary challenges, with Schakowsky later announcing that she will no longer run for re-election. Jarin told Fox News that when he spoke with voters in the district about Hoyer, they had concerns about the incumbent's age. "The main reaction I got when I asked people about Steny Hoyer was first and foremost his age," Jarin said. "The idea that he would be close to 90 years old at the end of the next term is just a little bit nuts for people. I think people are starting to process how extreme a situation that is." The primary challenges come as Democrats are still trying to regroup following last November's election setbacks, when the party lost control of the White House and their Senate majority, and came up short in their bid to win back the House. The party's base is angry and energized to push back against the sweeping and controversial moves by Trump in the four months since he returned to the White House. Additionally, while much of that anger and energy is directed at fighting the White House and congressional Republicans, some of it is targeted at Democrats whom many in the party's base feel aren't vocal enough in their efforts to stymie Trump. Concurrently, other longtime and older House Democrats in safe blue districts are facing the possibility of primary challenges. This, after newly elected Democratic National Committee Vice Chair David Hogg last month pledged to spend millions of dollars through his outside political group to back primary challenges against what he called "asleep at the wheel" House Democrats — lawmakers he argued have failed to effectively push back against Trump. The move by the 25-year-old Hogg, a survivor of the horrific shooting seven years ago at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in South Florida, to spend money against fellow Democrats ignited a firestorm within the party. Jarin said that "we have reached out to David Hogg. We've been in communication." But Hogg told The Washington Post last month that he wouldn't support primary challenges against Hoyer, Pelosi or Clyburn. As for his ability to raise money for his campaign, Jarin said, "I do come from a political family." He noted that his husband was a major donor and bundler for former President Joe Biden's successful 2020 campaign and also served as a DNC finance director, and that his uncle had "been a big bundler for Democratic causes for a long time." "I think a lot of donors realize that this is a problem but may not be able to say it out loud for fear of repercussions," he argued. Jarin said that he's received "some pushback from donors for concerns of prioritizing more marginal districts" instead of pouring resources into swing seats as the party aims to win back the House majority in 2026. "My message to them has been that putting extremely elderly politicians like Steny Hoyer back into office for a 24th term sends a message to voters across the country that Democrats are just the party of status quo and clearly that message has not been working," he said. In Massachusetts, first-time candidate Alex Rikleen — a father, former teacher and fantasy sports writer, this week launched a primary challenge against Markey. While Rikleen didn't spotlight the senator's age, he did argue that "Markey, like many other Democrats, has stood silently by as [Senate Democratic Leader] Chuck Schumer surrenders Democrats' leverage" in battling Trump. Rikleen said that he is "stepping forward to challenge an incumbent because Democrats have shown us that they are not going to change course on their own…in this perilous moment, I believe we need dramatic action now and we are not getting it from our current Democratic leaders." And while he said that "Sen. Markey has been a fantastic leader on progressive policy throughout my lifetime and he is better than most at standing up for others. In a normal political environment, I'd proudly continue voting for him," he argued that "this is not a normal moment. Better than most is not good enough." But Markey has been very visible this year, as he attended protests and rallies across Massachusetts. And last month he traveled to Louisiana to urge the Trump administration to release Rumeysa Ozturk, a student at Massachusetts' Tufts University who was handcuffed while walking on a street by masked Department of Homeland Security agents and detained at an ICE facility. And Markey took to social media on Thursday to once again defend Harvard University in its battle with the Trump administration, pledging that "Massachusetts will not be bullied."
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Springfield's Small Business Administration Office to close Sunday
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP)—State lawmakers are pushing back as the closing of Springfield's Small Business Administration Office looms just days away, and no staff remain for the office. E-bike rider killed in Springfield car crash The lease for the Springfield office was terminated by DOGE officials earlier this year and officially ends on Sunday, June 1st. That means small business owners in our area will face an hours-long trip out to Boston if they need to visit an office for aid. Senators Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren, alongside Congressmen Richard Neal and Jim McGovern, are all speaking out. They're demanding a solution for western Massachusetts entrepreneurs, calling on Small Business Administration Administrator Kelly Loeffler to work to keep the Springfield district office fully staffed and open. They emphasize that this district office helps connect rural, underserved, and emerging markets to federal resources that support local economies. 'Having played a key role in helping small businesses apply for loans and disaster relief programs.' There are no longer any employees working at the Springfield office, following a string of mass firings of SBA workers back in February. Lawmakers say there's no plan to relocate the Springfield office or hire any new workers. State lawmakers have sent a list of questions to the SBA, asking who closed the office and what support will be given to people in our area. They're demanding a response by Saturday before the building closes Sunday. WWLP-22News, an NBC affiliate, began broadcasting in March 1953 to provide local news, network, syndicated, and local programming to western Massachusetts. Watch the 22News Digital Edition weekdays at 4 p.m. on Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Boston Globe
6 days ago
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Democrats, don't risk free speech in the name of protecting kids
Senator Ed Markey voted in favor of KOSA in the last Congress, after it was Advertisement KOSA's supporters argue that it's about keeping children under 17 safe from the harms of social media. But at the heart of the bill is something everyone should oppose: empowering the government to decide what speech children should be forbidden from seeing online. KOSA's censorship provision is hidden in the bill's duty of care, which would require online platforms to take steps to avoid recommending content to minors that could harm them by causing suicidal behaviors, depression, anxiety, and more. To comply, platforms would have to suppress or delete potentially harmful content. But there's no consensus on what kind of speech is bad for kids. Many on the right argue that content about trans and gay people, abortion rights, and sex education hurts children. Supporters of KOSA like Republican Advertisement KOSA would give the FTC the power to enforce the duty of care against platforms, making it the ultimate decider of what content is harmful. But the current FTC is no unbiased arbiter. Earlier this year, Trump KOSA will create the perfect excuse for the FTC to investigate platforms that recommend disfavored content to children, and not just LGBTQ or reproductive rights content. It's not hard to imagine investigations of social media platforms that recommend content about gun control or vaccines that contradict what many Republicans believe. It's also not hard to imagine the agency using KOSA to target news reporting on topics like the Advertisement What's worse, the FTC won't even have to actually enforce KOSA for the censorship to start. As soon as the agency even hints that it may launch investigations, platforms will almost certainly move to comply in advance. If all this sounds far-fetched, just look at what's happened at the Federal Communications Commission. Its chair, Brendan Carr, began twisting the law to Democratic lawmakers have rightly Turning around and empowering the FTC to enforce censorship instead makes no sense. None of us — children or adults — are safer placing free speech in the hands of the FTC. Democrats need to stand up for the First Amendment. They need to defeat KOSA.
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Democrats buzz about potential retirements
Four Senate Democrats opted against reelection bids next year. Could there be more? There's some buzz in the Democratic Caucus about two progressive senators' futures — and they offered two different answers when asked about their future plans. Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., 68, who won his seat in 2008, told Semafor that he's still weighing whether to run and expects to make an announcement in the second quarter, which means within the next month. Then there's Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., 78, who said last year that he's running and defended his decision. He dismissed chatter that he might be reconsidering. 'I've already announced,' he told Semafor. Both senators are steadily climbing the seniority ranks: Markey is the ranking member on the Small Business Committee and Merkley is the top Democrat on the Budget Committee, and both have upward opportunities if they serve an additional term.
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
‘Heartbreaking news‘: Mass. leaders react to the cancer diagnosis of former President Joe Biden
With the announcement of former President Joe Biden's prostate cancer diagnosis, many Massachusetts political leaders released statements of well wishes and encouragement. Governor Maura Healey had called the diagnosis 'heartbreaking news for any family' and sent her best wishes to the former President and his family. Senator Ed Markey remarked that he is confident that Biden will fight the cancer diagnosis with 'everything he's got'. Massachusetts Congressman Stephen Lynch has long considered the former President a friend. He spoke with Boston 25's Kerry Kavanaugh via Zoom tonight and, like many of us, says he learned the news earlier today. Lynch remarked that Biden is a fighter, with a big battle ahead. 'He's 82, as you say, and this may be manageable over a medium term. And that might give him a number of years that are productive...' Representative Lynch said. 'It is a tough diagnosis, but Joe is a tough guy as well,l so I'm praying for him and his family.' Senator Elizabeth Warren sent her thoughts and prayers to President Biden. This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available. Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts. Follow Boston 25 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch Boston 25 News NOW
