There has been a conversation going on around–and with–former New Bedford Mayor Scott Lang about why he should run to be Massachusetts' other U.S. Senator.

In the interest of full disclosure, I am friends with Scott Lang. I first worked with him when we were on opposite sides of the negotiation table. I was a Freetown Selectman and he was the lawyer representing the police and fire unions in town. We did a number of contracts and handled some personal matters during those years.

When he ran for mayor in 2005, I stopped by his headquarters and offered to help him out. I ended up running a portion of his campaign and getting to know his wonderful family and his huge circle of friends.

I want Scott Lang to run for the U.S. Senate and I have told him this a dozen times, at least.

The former mayor of New Bedford has two goals in mind as he ponders this race.

First of all, he wants a senator who is focused on Massachusetts and the day-to-day lives of the people who live here. He doesn't think Sen. Ed Markey is focused on local issues, and we all know that Sen. Elizabeth Warren is focused on national issues and becoming president.

Scott Lang learned lots in the years he was the Mayor of New Bedford. He knows what the smaller cities and towns that make up the majority of Massachusetts need from the federal government. Before he was a lawyer representing union workers, he was an actual union worker. He has spent decades as a small business owner, paying bills and making a payroll every week at his law firm. He and his wife, Gig, have raised three children into successful and interesting adults.

He also spent years in Washington, D.C. as a Capitol Hill staffer for Sen. Humphrey and then at the Democratic National Committee as a staffer. He was part of the inner circle of the campaign to elect Sen. Edward M. Kennedy to the presidency in 1980. Ted Kennedy was disappointed in the direction President Jimmy Carter was taking the country and he decided to do something about it.

The Kennedy campaign experience for Scott Lang brings us to the other reason he is thinking about running.

Lang is disappointed with the direction the Democrat Party is heading. He believes in the free market as the greatest generator of wealth known to mankind. He believes in a strong social safety net, but not a system that just mails checks to people. He supports law and order and the men and women who put on a badge and gun every day in America. He knows socialism and the "New Green Deal" are losers for his country and his political party.

Run, Scott, run!

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. 

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