BOSTON — Democratic Rep. Seth Moulton is seeking a sixth term in Congress, touting accomplishments in Washington that he says have roped in tens of millions of dollars in federal funding for his district, and pledging to work to bolster national security, and push for immigration reform and reproductive rights.
Moulton filed paperwork with the Secretary of State’s Office on Thursday to run for reelection in the 6th Congressional race, which includes most of Essex County along with eight towns in Middlesex County. His campaign turned in more than 3,400 signatures from voters to qualify for the November ballot.
If reelected to another two-year term, Moulton said he plans to work on protecting reproductive rights, push to modernize public transportation — including high speed rail, improve mental health care, and bolster national security amid increasing military threats from Russia and China.
“We need a national China strategy,” said Moulton, who serves on a special House subcommittee on China. “We need to better manage competition, but most of all to succeed in deterrence. It’s critical that we succeed on deterrence.”
Moulton, 45, said he also plans to focus on immigration reform, as Massachusetts wrestles with a surge of asylum seekers that have overwhelmed the state’s emergency shelter system and forced the state to allocate hundreds of millions of dollars amid a lack of funding from Congress and the Biden administration.
“We need bipartisan immigration reform. Everyone knows the border is a mess,” Moulton said. “We need to do a lot more to discourage illegal immigration while encouraging people to come in through the proper pathways.”
He touts his accomplishments in Congress, from pushing through legislation creating a new 988 nationwide suicide hotline to improving mental health care for active duty military service members and making ALS disability insurance “more comprehensive and accessible.”
His reelection bid comes as a record number of congressional lawmakers have stepped down amid partisan bickering and redistricting changes in their home states. In the 118th Congress, at least 48 House members have departed or announced plans to leave Congress, about 11% of the lower chamber.
Moulton, a former Marine captain, stresses his record of working with Republicans to get things approved by Congress, but says he won’t shy away from a fight.
“Marines run toward the fight,” said Moulton, who served four combat tours of duty in Iraq. “There are problems and we’ve got to fix them. We have the best government in the world, but it needs a lot of work.”
Moulton was first elected to Congress in 2014, after toppling nine-term incumbent Democratic Rep. John Tierney and beating Republican Richard Tisei with 55% of the vote in the general election. He has won reelection four times, sometimes with opposition.
In the 2022 elections, he easily defeated Republican Bob May of Peabody and Mark Tashjian of Walpole, who was running as a Libertarian candidate.
Moulton said he’s expecting a challenger in the Sept. 3 Democratic primary, but it isn’t clear how many candidates will jump into the congressional race.
Nathaniel Mulcahy, a Rockport Democrat, pulled nomination papers to challenge Moulton, but hadn’t turned them in as of Thursday afternoon. The deadline to file paperwork to run is June 4, according to the Secretary of State’s Office.
So far this election cycle, Moulton has raised close to $3.8 million, according to his campaign and Federal Election Commission filings. In the first quarter of 2024 alone, he raised $1.5 million, primarily for other Democratic candidates in congressional races.
While the control of Congress will be up for grabs in the November elections, when voters will also choice a president, deep-blue Massachusetts isn’t of the competitive battleground states.
All 11 members of the state’s current congressional delegation are Democrats, and the party has a 3 to 1 voter registration advantage over Republicans.
The 6th Congressional District, which was once considered a competitive seat, hasn’t been held by a Republican in nearly three decades.
Peter Torkildsen, who represented the 6th District from 1993 to 1997, lost the seat to Tierney in the November 1996 election by a razor-thin, 371-vote margin that took a month of recounts to finalize. He challenged Tierney two years later in what was described as a grudge match, but he failed to win back the seat.
Christian M. Wade covers the Massachusetts Statehouse for North of Boston Media Group’s newspapers and websites. Email him at cwade@cnhinews.com.