The First Legislative District is home to one of the few competitive State Senate races this fall, due to the retirement of longtime incumbent Rosemary McAuliffe. As Shift reported last week, one Democrat who lost in the primary, State Representative Luis Moscoso, is contributing to the uncertainty by attacking his party’s chosen one, Guy Palumbo.
And Moscoso is pretty blunt in his assessment of Palumbo, calling him a liar and “unscrupulous opportunist.”
Now it turns out he is not the only First District legislator who is not happy with Palumbo. According to the Everett Herald, “If you want to make retiring Democratic state Sen. Rosemary McAuliffe squirm a little, ask her who she wants to succeed her in the Legislature.”
Despite the Democrats investing millions this year in trying to regain a majority, McAuliffe will not endorse Palumbo, and may not vote for him, trying to slip off the hook by saying “That’s a hard question. I think it’s a little early for me to answer that. It’s still September. We have until November.”
Evidently, McAuliffe “said she didn’t like the tone of the primary or that an outside group funded by backers of charter schools ran an independent campaign in support of Palumbo. McAuliffe opposes charter schools, Palumbo doesn’t.”
So, while McAuliffe tries to decide, the Republican in the race, Mindie Wirth, is using the Democrats’ lack of support for their candidate against Palumbo, saying “Where does he really stand?” Wirth said. “Is this a party of convenience?”
You might excuse Palumbo for bringing up the old saying, “with friends like these…”
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