Capuano Considers Senate

Congressman Michael E. Capuano, a Somerville Democrat whose U.S. House district includes Cambridge, obtained nomination papers yesterday to run for the U.S. Senate seat left vacant after the death of Edward M. Kennedy.

“I believe that the voters of Massachusetts want to continue the progressive ideals that Senator Ted Kennedy fought for during his decades of service,” Capuano said, according to the Boston Globe. “No other candidate being mentioned or already announced more closely mirrors Ted Kennedy’s position on important issues of war and peace.”

Capuano said obtaining papers was “the next step towards making a decision regarding candidacy,” and added that he would make a formal announcement next week.

Taking out nomination papers, the first major step towards launching a Senate run, requires potential candidates to obtain voter signatures. Two other Democrats, Mass. Attorney General Martha Coakley and U.S. Representative Stephen Lynch, have taken out nomination papers as well. Former Lieutenant Gov. Kerry M. Healey ’82, a prominent Mass. Republican, had also considered entering the race but decided against it on Sunday night, saying that such a campaign “would not be in the best interest of [her] family at this time.”

Nomination papers for party candidates must be submitted for certification of signatures by Oct. 20, and the special election filling Kennedy’s Senate seat will take place on Jan. 19. State party primaries will be held on Dec. 8. In the meantime, state lawmakers are considering whether to allow Mass. Gov. Deval L. Patrick ’78 to make an interim appointment to the Senate.

Capuano, who spent his undergraduate years at Dartmouth and earned a law degree at Boston College, served as Mayor of Somerville for nearly a decade before being elected to the House in 1998. That House seat had previously been filled by Ted Kennedy’s nephew Joseph P. Kennedy II, who recently also debated running for his late uncle’s Senate seat. But Kennedy announced Sunday that he would be staying in the private sector—a move that opened up the field for other contenders, including Capuano.

Alison Mills, Capuano’s spokeswoman, did not respond to requests for comment yesterday.

—Staff writer Peter F. Zhu can be reached at pzhu@fas.harvard.edu.