“Why Ed Markey?”
By: Hayley Fleming
I’m the President of College Democrats of Massachusetts, and I’m supporting Ed Markey in the U.S. Senate primary.
Senator Markey spoke at the first event I planned as President of College Democrats of Massachusetts — our Eastern Regional Kickoff at Northeastern University. Senator Markey arrived fifteen minutes early to the event so that he could chat with the executive board. After learning everyone’s name, he asked to take a picture with us.
When he spoke, he highlighted the issues that we care most about as college students. Universal health care coverage. Student debt. Racial justice. Climate change. And after giving his introduction, he opened it up to questions, answering our unfiltered queries for the next twenty minutes. He engaged with us in a way I have never seen another politician engage before. He wanted to know what was on our minds, and he wanted to know what we thought should be done about the problems facing our country.
A day later, I got a call from his campaign asking if he could attend our Western Regional Kickoff the following weekend in Holyoke. Senator Markey was so excited about the event at Northeastern that he wanted to travel across the state to a second College Democrats event in six days. And when he arrived at Holyoke Community College that Saturday, he remembered my name.
People often fall into the trap of assuming that young voters support young candidates. I argue that young voters are issue voters; we care about issues impacting our generation, and we care that candidates speak to those issues. We rarely find people to represent us who fight for all of those issues, but Ed Markey has proven time and again that he is in the Senate to listen to and fight for our concerns. One of the most pressing issues of our generation is undoubtedly climate change, and there is no one better equipped and more dedicated to solving this issue than Senator Markey. I grew up in Florida, which is simultaneously in serious danger from climate change and in serious danger of continuing to elect politicians who deny climate science. When I moved to Massachusetts, I found my climate justice hero in Senator Markey.
The Green New Deal is bold, and climate change deserves bold action. It would transform the United States economy, encouraging investment in renewable energy sources, promoting energy-efficient transportation, and improving our infrastructure. Most importantly, Senator Markey and Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez made sure the legislation would promote climate justice so that everyone benefits from this legislation.
The recent COVID-19 crisis has reaffirmed my support for Senator Markey. In late March, Senator Markey joined fellow lawmakers in writing to congressional leadership to demand that they prioritize students by granting emergency aid to students and stop-gap funding to colleges. Then, he joined Senator Warren and Representative Pressley to call for the release of demographic data of Medicare beneficiaries being treated for COVID-19. He pushed for recurring monthly payments to families; he asked Zoom management how they are protecting students’ security in the classroom; he slammed Amazon over price gauging; and he keeps pushing everyone in our government to act faster and stronger.
Students like me deserve a senator who fights hard for issues that will impact us for the rest of our lives, and Senator Markey continues to prove that he will do just that.
