How Many Will Challenge Sen. Markey in 2020? [OPINION]

Massachusetts Senator Edward Markey will be up for re-election in 2020 and he has plenty of potential opponents to consider.

The media and certain pundits would have us believe this isn't the cycle to be an old white male and a candidate in a Democratic Party primary. That might be true and it might not be true.

The leading candidates in the race to win the right to take on Donald Trump are Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders. Those are two of the oldest and whitest guys in politics. They were in Congress during the Reagan Revolution and they both remember the first time Daniel Ortega was running Nicaragua and courting the Russians. Today, those two old white guys are on top of the Democratic Party race to be president.

However, the Massachusetts voters have shown an indication to make changes in the Democratic Party primary. Last year, they ejected longtime Congressman Michael Capuano in the primary and replaced him with Boston City Councilor Ayanna Pressley. Out went the old liberal white man and in came the first African American woman ever elected to Congress by Massachusetts.

Congresswoman Pressley has a safe seat and seems to have taken to the ways of the House and the deeper progressive shift within the House Democrats majority. She could give Markey a strong fight if she decided to challenge him in the primary.

Attorney General Maura Healey would be a strong candidate against Markey and has even bested him narrowly in a recent poll. Healey has built a national reputation with liberals by attacking the Trump Administration and the National Rifle Association. She is also one of the few members of the LBTG community who is elected to statewide office.

But what about another candidate who isn't as progressive as Markey or any of his other potential opponents? What about a candidate who says the "Green New Deal" is a mirage and the shift to socialism is the wrong direction for the Democratic Party? Is there a road to the Senate for a candidate who doesn't want to upend society and remake it in their own way?

The action in the U.S. Senate race in Massachusetts could be from a challenger nobody has considered.

Chris McCarthy is the host of The Chris McCarthy Show on 1420 WBSM New Bedford. He can be heard weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon. Contact him at chris.mccarthy@townsquaremedia.com and follow him on Twitter @Chris_topher_Mc. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.