“They are not so much concerned with international issues as they are with making sure that bridges and court houses are built and that everyone has a job,” he says.

That type of constituent-oriented politics was pioneered by Moakley and O’Neill, who entitled one of his memoirs All Politics is Local.

And in true local form, Southie seems to be pulling out all the stops to elect their ‘hometown boy’ to Congress.

While voters in the suburbs have largely ignored the race, South Boston is littered with Lynch signs and campaign paraphernalia. He has secured the endorsements of about 40 local trade unions and is considered to have a solid working-class base, say many observers.

O’Connor agrees with Clark that the district’s changing face will benefit Lynch. However, Lynch will need to raise his visibility beyond Southie in order to appeal to suburban towns in the district. Likewise, Joyce will need to engage voters outside his suburban base of Milton.

Reaching out across racial and socioeconomic classes is a lesson that anyone who hopes to represent the Ninth will have to learn, Dempsey explains.

“[Moakley] showed that we all have a lot more in common than we thought or might be willing to accept,” he says.