Daily Kos endorses Ed Markey in the race to replace John Kerry

Daily Kos is proud to endorse Rep. Ed Markey (D) for Senate When it comes to filling the Senate seat recently vacated by John Kerry, Democrats have as clear a choice as it gets. And for progressives, there's only one option: Rep. Ed Markey.

This would be the case even if his opponent wasn't Rep. Stephen Lynch, who likes to call himself a "moderate" but is in reality very conservative, with a long anti-choice voting record. He voted against the Affordable Care Act. He voted for the Iraq war and voted against a timeline for withdrawal. He's also flip-flopped on gun safety and on gay rights. Indeed, when Lynch first ran for Congress in 2001, he portrayed himself as "the conservative candidate."

Those are all good reasons to oppose Lynch, but there's no shortage of good reasons to support Ed Markey. First and foremost is Markey's long record on environmental issues, from climate change to natural resource conservation to green jobs. In fact, he even recently wrote about climate change here at Daily Kos:

For two years, the nightly news and the morning papers have been filled with scenes that look like they're straight out of a blockbuster movie. Waves crashing over sea walls as stronger storms lash our coasts. Trees ablaze as wildfires scar our forests. Crops withering as unrelenting drought and heat parch our farms.

Climate disruption is costing American lives and livelihoods. In 2011 and 2012, America endured 25 weather disasters that totaled $1 billion or more in damages 2012 was the warmest year on record in the continental United States. We suffered the most widespread drought since the Dust Bowl, record wildfires that engulfed neighborhoods, and superstorm Sandy, which killed more than 100 people and could cost taxpayers $60 billion. [...]

Republicans don't want to talk about climate change, but Mother Nature keeps interrupting their other conversations. It's time to not just talk about the challenges that we face from climate change, but to do something about them.

That's what you get with Ed Markey in the Senate: What Elizabeth Warren brought in expertise on financial reform, Markey will bring in expertise on environmental issues. That alone makes him worthy of your support, but Markey's been strong on progressive issues throughout his tenure in the House. You can see what we mean if you take a look at his solid answers to our candidate questionnaire.

Local pollster MassINC surveyed the primary last week, finding a decent but by no means dominant 38-31 lead for Markey over Lynch in the primary. There's still a sizable chunk of undecided voters out there, and Markey needs to lock them down and put himself over that 50 percent mark. Let's help him do that.

Please send $3 to Ed Markey to keep this seat true blue.