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Six members of the Cambridge City Council endorsed incumbent United States Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) in his primary election campaign against U.S. Representative Joseph P. Kennedy III (D-Mass.) Thursday.
Vice Mayor Alanna M. Mallon and Councilors Dennis J. Carlone, Marc C. McGovern, Patricia M. Nolan ’80, Jivan G. Sobrinho-Wheeler, and Quinton Y. Zondervan announced their decision to back Markey in a campaign press release.
“Although I understand that there are times when a new voice is necessary, this is not one of those times,” McGovern said in an interview. “Ed is extremely effective, he is progressive, he fights for and stands for issues that I care about, and he gets things done.”
Nolan, who is serving her first term on the City Council, said she was persuaded to back Markey by his “leadership” on climate change issues. Markey is a co-sponsor of the Green New Deal — a resolution that he introduced last year with U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) aimed at curbing carbon emissions.
“I 1,000 percent could not be more thrilled that he is a co-sponsor of the Green New Deal and has been pushing the kind of change that we need at the national level, not just these past couple years, but for a decade in the area of addressing our climate crisis,” Nolan said.
At a Cambridge Democrats event last month that both Senate candidates attended, Kennedy took aim at Markey’s 2002 vote in favor of the Iraq War — a vote Markey said he regrets. Nolan, who attended the event — held at Cambridge Rindge and Latin School — said the distinction was not enough for her to stop supporting Markey.
“There are so few people who voted against it,” she said. “It is very hard to state with 100 percent certainty that had Representative Kennedy been in office at that time, he would have chosen a different path.”
Newly-elected Cambridge Mayor Sumbul Siddiqui did not join her fellow councilors in endorsing Markey.
Seven of the eight members of Cambridge’s state legislative delegation have also thrown their support behind Markey.
Sobrinho-Wheeler said he hopes for a high voter turnout in this year’s elections.
“There’s going to be a lot of turnout this year,” Sobrinho-Wheeler said. “My hope is that that will bring a lot of progressives — a lot of people who may not always vote in primaries — out to this one and give Markey the edge.”
Kennedy and Markey will participate in their first debate next Tuesday at 7 p.m. on WGBH.
—Staff writer Maria G. Gonzalez contributed reporting.
—Staff writer Jasper G. Goodman can be reached at jasper.goodman@thecrimson.com. Follow him on Twitter @Jasper_Goodman.
