Massachusetts’ all-Democratic delegation to Congress is facing little GOP resistance in their ?re-election races this year, despite ?voter unrest roiling the White House race and a popular Republican governor at the helm of the party.
The state GOP is all but conceding the nine congressional races in the face of an expected surge of Democratic voters in the presidential contest, focusing on keeping the few local offices and legislative seats they hold.
Only two GOP congressional candidates have surfaced less than 10 months before Election Day, and both of them lost ?primary races two years ago.
“It’s not a pretty picture for them,” said Evan Falchuk, head of the United Independent Party, which gained official status by winning three percent of the ?gubernatorial vote in 2014.
Falchuk said his party is hoping to “have an impact” on the legislative races by running several candidates.
The pessimistic outlook for the GOP in 2016 comes just 14 months after Charlie Baker took back the governor’s office, ?defeating Democrat Martha Coakley by sweeping independent voters and getting Republicans out to vote.
Bay State Republicans also had high hopes in 2014 of ending their 20-year losing streak in congressional races, targeting the seats of U.S. Rep. Bill Keating (D-Quincy) on the South Shore and scandal-plagued Rep. John Tierney ?(D-Salem) on the North Shore.
But Tierney lost the Democratic primary to newcomer Seth Moulton, who ended up trouncing well-financed Republican challenger Richard Tisei by 14 points.
The closest the GOP came was in Keating’s more conservative-leaning district, but he still defeated challenger John Chapman by 10 points.
Keating’s 9th District, which includes Cape Cod, remains the GOP’s best turf, but this year the only announced candidates are Allen Waters, who lost a state senate primary race two years ago, and Mark Allegro, a loser in the GOP primary to Chapman.
No other Republicans have surfaced to run for Congress, though party officials are planning to announce several candidates in the coming weeks. Baker hasn’t been focused on the 2016 election — instead planning for 2018.
None of the Democratic incumbents, even freshman Moulton, appears to be vulnerable, and will be aided by the presidential balloting, which will draw a much heavier Democratic-leaning electorate. The last time a Massachusetts Republican was in Congress was nearly two decades ago.
“It’s a bad bet to run for Congress in Massachusetts anytime, but it’s even worse in a presidential election,” GOP strategist Rob Gray said.
MassGOP spokesman Terry MacCormack said the party has recruited several congressional candidates but admitted the major focus will be on legislative races and re-electing five GOP sheriffs.
“In 2016, Republicans look forward to holding the gains we’ve made in legislative and county-wide elections, and picking up additional seats across the state,” MacCormack said.