“The most Seth Moulton-like candidate running to replace him just may be a Republican.” Boston Globe, 6/3/26

“Hearing Micah Q. Jones explain why he wants to succeed US Representative Seth Moulton in the Sixth Congressional District can, at times, sound a little familiar.

The US Army veteran said he believes in “service more than anything.” Like Moulton a decade ago, he’s a first-time candidate in his mid-30s who touts wanting to work across the aisle. And he lauded Moulton’s ‘heterodox way of thinking’ and willingness to challenge his fellow Democrats…

…There’s just one catch: Jones is actually running in a different party. A half-dozen Democrats want to fill Moulton’s North Shore-anchored seat, but it is Jones, a onetime-Democrat-turned-Republican, who may strike the strongest comparison to the district’s six-term incumbent.

That type of bipartisan message some in the district said they find compelling, even — and perhaps especially — in a candidate from another party.

‘I don’t want someone who is too much to the right, and I don’t want to go too much to the left,’ said Michelle Guzman, a Democrat and community organizer who met Jones as he flitted from table to table at a recent North Shore Latino Business Association networking event…

… Like Moulton, Jones said he was enraged by the Biden administration’s tumultuous withdrawal from Afghanistan…. Jones said he ‘doesn’t believe in forever wars,’ and was glad to see Congress push the White House to seek approval for the war in Iran, even as he agrees with the administration’s stated mission there…

… Jones, once a self-described “Kennedy Democrat,” said he unenrolled from the party while attending Northeastern Law School, which he graduated from in 2019. He registered as a Republican in 2022…and has voted in both Democratic and Republican primaries since 2020….

…Jones was raised in Southern Californiaby his mom, Fern,a Democrat and college librarian and his dad, Eric, a Republican and Los Angeles police officer….

… After graduating from the University of California San Diego, Jones joined the Army, serving a yearlong deployment in Afghanistan in 2014 and earning a Bronze Star, according to his campaign. After leaving the military in 2016, he moved to Massachusetts, attended Northeastern, and eventually settled in Essex with his wife, Marissa. They have a 3-year-old son, and welcomed their second child, a daughter, in November…

… Late last month, he made the rounds as small business owners and guests filed into the parking lot where the North Shore Latino Business Association was hosting the event on a cloudy evening.

Jones drifted from table to table, greeting attendees in a mix of English and Spanish… 

… “You can be part of whatever party you want to identify with, as long as we can see that it’s somebody that is in the community, is out there doing the work,” said Justin de la Cruz, who works in Lynn’s economic development department. “We want to see that these folks care.”

Read the full article HERE: