MARKEY ANNOUNCES INTENTION TO RUN FOR MASSACHUSETTS SENATE SEAT

Clean Energy, Carbon Mitigation Advocate Aims for John Kerry’s Seat 

Tamar Hallerman
GHG Monitor
1/4/13

Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), one of the House’s most outspoken supporters of pricing carbon emissions to stymie climate change, announced late last week that he plans to run in a special election for the Senate seat to be vacated by Democrat John Kerry. Markey, the ranking member on the House Natural Resources Committee, said Dec. 27 that recent events, including Hurricane Sandy and the “fiscal cliff” debate, have “made clear” that he should run for Kerry’s seat, which will be open if Kerry is confirmed by the Senate to be secretary of State as expected. “There is so much at stake,” Markey said in a statement. “I refuse to allow the Tea Party-dominated Republican Party to lead us off the fiscal cliff and into recession. I won’t allow the [National Rifle Association] to obstruct an assault weapons ban yet again. I will not sit back and allow oil and coal industry lobbyists to thwart our clean energy future or extremists to restrict women’s rights and health care.”

Markey is perhaps best known for co-authoring a cap-and-trade bill in the House of Representatives with Energy and Commerce Committee colleague Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) in 2009. The American Clean Energy and Security Act, better known as the Waxman-Markey bill, would have implemented a nationwide emissions trading scheme in the U.S. for the first time, established a renewable electricity standard for utilities and provided tens of billions worth of subsidies for carbon capture and storage and other clean energy technologies. The measure narrowly passed the House in June 2009 but languished in the Senate the following year.

Brown Expected to be GOP Candidate

Markey, who is dean of the Massachusetts Congressional delegation after serving in the House for 36 years, currently has more than $3 million on hand in campaign cash, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. He is the first person from either party to declare his candidacy for the seat. Democrat Reps. Stephen Lynch and Michael Capuano have also expressed interest in running but have not formally thrown their hats into the ring. Markey is still considered the frontrunner for the Democrats and has already received the support of Kerry and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.

Markey is widely expected to face Republican Scott Brown a special election this summer even though Brown has yet to announce his candidacy. Brown lost his Senate seat in November to Democrat Elizabeth Warren but still remains popular in the state. In a radio interview this week, Brown indicated that he would not mind running against Markey. “They’re making it awfully tempting,” Brown told WTKK-FM. “You got Ed Markey: Does he even live here any more?”