Republican Massachusetts U.S. Senate candidate Kevin O’Connor criticized Senator Markey in a tweet for not opposing outright the idea of a Democratic senate packing the Supreme Court next year. Clearly, O’Conner thinks Bay State voters might be turned off by brazen partisanship enough to hold this against Markey. Though I haven’t seen polling data on it, it may be the case that many Massachusetts voters would be nonplused about court packing. However, it is definitely not the case that this line of attack against Markey is a net-plus for O’Connor. Criticizing a member of the Commonwealth’s all-Democratic Capitol Hill delegation for excessive partisanship is like criticizing a guard dog for being mean. O’Connor’s mistake is the result of a popular misinterpretation of Massachusetts voters’ habit of electing Republican governors and Democrats everywhere else.
The success of GOP gubernatorial candidates over the past 30 years makes Republicans believe they can compete in high-profile statewide races. It’s the very same mistake that made Elizabeth Warren’s win over Scott Brown in 2012 a foregone conclusion the minute Brown’s 2010 special election victory was called. Massachusetts voters are no less partisan than any others, and like others, their partisanship corresponds to their perception of the partisan stakes in high-profile elections. The partisan stakes of gubernatorial elections in Massachusetts are virtually nil. Democrats have a lock on veto-proof majorities in both chambers of the state legislature. Republican gubernatorial candidates who don’t poke the bear can absolutely count on a fair shake from Bay State voters. National politics, on the other hand, is and has been a polarized partisan war for some time now and Massachusetts voters will not be giving aid and comfort to the enemy in that war anytime soon.
P.S. The subtle reminder in this post that I called Warren’s 2012 election before she had even earned the nomination was necessary for my thesis. The possibility that it might help longtime readers forget about my 2016 presidential election commentary is merely incidental.