BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) — Massachusetts Congressman Seth Moulton is running for President of the United States, joining a crowded field of Democrats hoping to unseat Donald Trump in 2020.
The Marine veteran made the announcement with a video posted to his website Monday morning, and updates to the homepage reading "Seth Moutlon 2020" and "Seth Moulton for President." He spoke with WBZ NewsRadio's Deb Lawler Monday morning about his decision.
"I'm a Patriot," Moulton said. "I believe in serving this country. It's why I signed up for the Marines. It's why I ran for Congress to try to prevent what got us into Iraq from happening again. And it's why I'm running to defeat the most divisive president in American history, to try to bring this country back together."
Moulton joins a crowded field of 2020 candidates, and touted his experience to differentiate himself from the others.
"First of all, my background and experience are different," he said. "I'm the only person who's led Americans in combat overseas in an incredibly divisive war ... finding ways to bring together Americans from across this country with different religious beliefs, different political beliefs, and get them united behind a common mission. Fundamentally, I think that's what we need from our Commander-in-Chief, from our next president, during these incredibly divisive times."
Moulton said ideas of patriotism and serving the country are often Republican talking points, but he wants to change that, because he says Trump is weak in those areas.
In reacting to the recent release of the Mueller report, Moulton said he thinks Democrats made a mistake by waiting for the report to come out.
"I called a year ago for the House to start discussion, debate on these issues, issues that might lead to impeachment," Moulton said. "I think that we should've done that a year ago, and I think we need to do it now ... I don't think the time is right to be voting on impeachment because we don't have all the facts yet, but we should be debating it, and frankly, we should have been debating it a year ago."
WBZ NewsRadio's political analyst Jon Keller said Moulton's veteran status may win his campaign support.
“The most interesting aspect of Seth Moulton and his candidacy is his very distinguished military service, and that certainly has done well by him here in Massachusetts,” Keller said. “I think that will be appealing to some voters nationally—the question is, how many.”
But Keller noted that there’s already an Iraq war vet in the race: Pete Buttigieg, one of the early front-runners. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii, another 2020 contender, is also a veteran.
As for the crowded Democratic field, Keller said whether or not the high number of candidates could hurt or help the party depending on how debates end up working out.
“Keep in mind, the cattle-call Republican debates back in 2016 as it turned out worked to the benefit of, arguably, the least-qualified, most anti-establishment candidate in the race, Donald Trump. He was able to cut through the clutter with his act. You wonder if something similar might happen here.
Listen to Lawler's full interview with Moulton below, where they discuss Russian influence, the Stop & Shop strike, his prospects in the race, and more.
(Photo: Courtesy Seth Moulton)
WBZ NewsRadio's Deb Lawler (@debwbz) reports