The presidential race has dominated news coverage this election cycle, but there are a lot of other races on the ballot, including contests for Congress. In Massachusetts, the nine-member congressional delegation is made up entirely of Democrats and only four of them are facing Republican opponents.
MORE: What Happens to Incumbents’ Campaign Money When There’s No Major Challenge?
So, if there’s no major party candidate to challenge them, what does an incumbent member of Congress do come election season?
If you’re Worcester Democrat Jim McGovern, you spend the late summer touring local farms. One of his stops was the Kitchen Garden in Sunderland. Owner Caroline Pam showed him a new processing building, where the farm makes hot sauce and salsa from their vegetables. McGovern listened closely, and seemed to take genuine interest. At the end of the visit, he took a photo with the farm owners and other agriculture officials who joined him for the tour.
Everything went smoothly. It would be a pleasantly successful campaign event if it were one. However, this is all done through McGovern’s government office. He doesn’t need to campaign, because there’s no one to campaign against.
“I was on a radio show and a caller called up and was upset that a Republican wasn’t running against me. I said, ‘Look, I’m responsible for many things, but I’m not responsible for getting a Republican opponent,” McGovern said with a laugh.
Still, McGovern said he’s committed to representing everyone in his district.
“I take public service very seriously,” McGovern said. “I think I’m doing a good job, but I fully expected a vigorous challenge this year.”
However, it seems McGovern’s district was never a priority for the Republican Party. A state party spokesperson stopped returning my requests for an interview with the party chair, but at a ribbon-cutting for a new solar installation in Westfield, I spoke to Republican state Senator Don Humason. He said there are a few reasons it’s hard to challenge an incumbent congressional Democrat.
“It’s always the numbers,” Humason said. “It’s the numbers of registered voters in that party [and] there’s always the financial issue of running against an incumbent Democratic congressman or Democratic senator. The money in politics makes it very prohibitive for a newcomer to get in.”
According to Humason, many potential newcomers could be turned off by the process.
“Every motive you have, every scrap of background that you’ve ever had is gone through,” Humason said. “I think a lot of people don’t want to be bothered with that, so they don’t run. It’s a disservice to the voters because they don’t get a choice at the federal level. It may happen, someday.”
“Hope springs eternal,” Humason adds. Also at the ribbon-cutting was Republican Lieutenant Governor Karyn Polito. She lives in Shrewsbury, part of Congressman McGovern’s district. So I asked her if she’s disappointed there’s not a GOP alternative on her ballot. She responded that she’s been working with McGovern for years.
“I have a good relationship with him, and we’ll continue to find the common ground, which is what people want to see happen more so,” Polito said. “Instead of being distracted by what you disagree on, find things that you agree on and get it done.”
Polito said she’s been able to do that with Congressman McGovern. Parts of McGovern’s central Massachusetts district helped propel Polito and Governor Charlie Baker to victory two years ago, but on the congressional level, the district is still tough for Republicans.
“The current district, I think, takes in a number of kind of Republican places, but when you combine Worcester and Amherst, that effectively gives you a Democratic majority right there,” said Robert Boatright, a political science professor at Clark University.
Boatright studied the latest redistricting process in Massachusetts back in 2012. While the process of setting congressional district boundaries has been criticized in many states, Boatright said Bay State lawmakers were pretty fair.
“The way in which they were drawn, they’re geographically relatively contiguous, they kind of make sense from a mapmaking point of view,” Boatright said. “You would really have to draw things very, very creatively to get a district that actually tilted Republican.”
According to Boatright, it’s just not worth the time and money for Republicans to challenge in most Massachusetts congressional districts, especially in a presidential election year.
Both Humason and Lieutenant Governor Polito said they’re more focused on state legislative races, but Republicans aren’t contesting many of those either. They’re running in 16 of the 40 state Senate districts, and 50 of the 160 House districts.
Some voters are disappointed with their lack of choices. Back at McGovern’s farm tour, organic farming advocate Leslie Cox told me he grew up in a heavily Republican area of rural New York.
“I think about this now that I’m in such a heavy Democratic area because of the fact that I register as a Republican, because I always did and always had been. But at the same time, right now, I have nobody to vote for,” Cox said.
Even without a challenger, there’s still one very political activity Congressman McGovern is involved in: fundraising.
“Any money that I raise I’m going to help support like-minded candidates across the country, because I want to see if we can win back the House and win back the Senate,” McGovern said. “Even without an opponent, I’m not taking this election for granted. I believe it’s important for me to go and ask people for their vote, and that means I have to be out there and campaigning.”
Right now, McGovern has over $450,000 in his campaign account, which is pennies compared to neighboring Democrat Richie Neal — who also faces no major party opposition.
Check here Wednesday for more on what their money does when there’s no real campaign to spend it on.