Rep. Seth Moulton, who grew up in Marblehead, laid out a stark assessment of Democrats’ limitations and the need for fundamental party reform during an hour-long telephone town hall Thursday night.
“We’ve got to accept that we lost. We’ve got to come to terms with the fact that this should have been the easiest election in our history, running against a convicted felon, and we lost across the board,” Moulton told constituents. “The status quo is not acceptable. These people who just say, ‘Oh well, statistically, it was very close.’ It shouldn’t have been close at all.”
“A lot of people think that Democrats are just preaching — if you don’t agree with me, then not only are you wrong, but you’re a bad person,” he said. “That alienates a lot of people. That’s not a good marketing plan.”
Emily DeJoy, speaking for the Marblehead Republican Town Committee, told the Current that Democrats have lost touch with voter concerns, including “rising cost of living, crime, illegal immigration, fairness in women’s sports and government corruption.” Instead, she said, Democrats have focused on “DEI, pronouns and unrealistic green energy solutions.”
Addressing massive cuts by President Donald Trump and Elon Musk, Moulton described constituents waiting three hours for military ID renewals because of staffing shortages.
“That’s not government efficiency,” he said. “Standing in line for three and a half hours to get your ID card renewed — we need to do better.”
The MRTC offered its own vision for government reform, particularly in education. DeJoy said the committee would advocate for Marblehead to receive its fair share of funding if federal education dollars shift to state block grants, while emphasizing “fundamental learning initiatives” and “academic excellence” over DEI programs.
Fresh from the Munich Security Conference, Moulton expressed alarm about the administration’s Ukraine policy.
“Trump is literally siding with Russia here,” he said, comparing Trump’s messaging about Ukraine to “if President Franklin Roosevelt had gotten on the radio and used Hitler’s talking points for his invasion of Poland.”
The congressman highlighted threats to research funding, noting Massachusetts received nearly 6,000 National Institute of Health grants totaling $3.5 billion in 2024.
“We get an outsized share of this money because we’re doing an outsized share of the pathbreaking research that allows innovations in medical care,” he said.
Looking toward future elections, Moulton emphasized Democrats must expand their appeal while maintaining core values.
“The definition of a majority party means that you’re not going to agree with every other Democrat on every single issue,” he said. “That’s OK. That’s what democracy is about. Be willing to have these debates.”
The congressman concluded by acknowledging current frustrations while emphasizing long-term engagement.
“We’ve got to win in 2026 to restore some balance,” he said. “That work is incredibly important to ensuring we can win back the House at the very least and actually have a real check, a real lever of power.”
