Seth Moulton, The Long Shot Candidate?

WAMU 88.5

Published April 3, 2019 at 11:06 AM EDT

Congressman Seth Moulton, Democrat of Massachusetts.

So far, Massachusetts Congressman Seth Moulton hasn’t said if he’s running for president.

But it sure sounds like he might be trying to. He told The Atlantic last month that “I think Donald Trump is a lot harder to beat than most Democrats think. But I’m also quietly confident that I can beat him, and I don’t think it’ll be the hardest thing that I do in my life.”

One of Moulton’s policy priorities is national security. He served several tours of duty in Iraq and won several medals for his work there.

He was described like this in a 2017 Politico profile:

But it’s Moulton’s allies who make him atypical—military leaders like David Petraeus and Stanley McChrystal, experienced political minds like David Gergen. These people look at Moulton and see the face of the future of the Democratic Party, a social progressive who’s fiscally more moderate. They see somebody who could chip away at the intractable ideological conflict that is crippling this country and appeal to the sorts of voters who have turned away from the party. And these people don’t say this because of Moulton’s legislative accomplishments, which to this point are limited.

A Moulton run might lean “in on a national-security focus which, even in a field this huge, he is all alone in focusing on — a stance that not only differentiates him, but could eventually draw the others out on foreign affairs,” according to The Atlantic.

Moulton has been criticized for leading the charge to remove Rep. Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the House (though he eventually voted for her) and for his recent comments on the Green New Deal (he said “I think we want to be careful that we don’t become hypocrites and start ignoring science, just like the right has been doing.”).

How will he stand out in a field of over 15 announced candidates that seems to get larger by the day?

Produced by Haili Blassingame.

GUESTS

Seth Moulton, U.S Representative, Massachusetts’ 6th Congressional District, @SethMoulton

For more, visit https://the1a.org.