Obviously, it’s not just Ayanna Pressley who’s interested in Ed Markey’s U.S. Senate seat. There’s a whole bunch of Dems angling for a shot should the 79-year-old Markey falter in coming days, weeks and months. Potential Dem candidates/challengers include Jake Auchincloss, Seth Moulton, Andrea Campbell, Michelle Wu and, of course, Pressley, as the Herald’s Joe Battenfeld reports. … The Globe’s Joan Vennochi was writing about the Auchincloss angle a couple of weeks ago.

We don’t have enough contested elections in this one-party bluest of blue state, so I’m usually glad when someone steps forward to challenge an incumbent. But let’s be clear: Bethany Andres-Beck, a software engineer and Dem activist who identifies as transgender, is challenging U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton in the Democratic primary next year for one reason and one reason only: Moulton’s remarks about transgender athletes. The Globe and Marblehead Current have more on Andres-Beck’s candidacy announcement.  …

Before flocking to support Andres-Beck, maybe local progressives should read this recent NYT interview with U.S. Rep. Sarah McBride, the first openly trans member of Congress who says the left overplayed its hand on trans issues and grew out of touch with mainstream America, etc. etc. The “absolutist” approach to politics isn’t working, McBride says.

— This is just the beginning: “Mass. House announces hiring freeze in face of federal funding cuts” (Globe)

— The People’s Republic of Worcester? “Worcester considers a Zohran Mamdani-sparked idea: City-run grocery stores” (WBUR)

— Don’t panic. The new owner sounds OK: “Somerville’s Redbones BBQ sold — what does the restaurant’s future hold?” (MassLive.)

— There must be some mistake. Our cute and cuddly Teamsters? “Republic Services accuses Teamsters of vandalism, threats as garbage strike continues” (BBJ)

— First he has to lose to Wu before deciding whether to lose to Healey: “Josh Kraft could be stuck in the wrong race” (Herald)

— There must be a sale-leaseback angle here: “Private equity is coming for accounting firms. Some fear a ‘reckoning.’” (BBJ)

— Good: “Rules for 700-foot skyscrapers across downtown will have to wait” (Globe)

— Needless to say, they’re going the 40B route: “Developer Proposes 783-Unit Project In Brookline” (BisNow)

— Speaking of replacing old office relics with new residential buildings: “Nordblom Pursues Burlington’s First MBTA Communities Project” (B&T)

— I hate to say this, but I think I side with the wealthy donor: “Healey wants to define when a beach becomes public. One of her wealthy donors has pushed a similar bill for years” (Globe)

— Just when you started to believe the turn-around was real: “500 MBTA riders stuck on Blue Line train without A/C evacuated” (Herald)

— Not entirely true, but close enough: “Mark Cuban: Democrats’ only message is ‘Trump sucks’” (The Hill)

— The Nantucket Nectars of our era: “Kevin Durant, Derrick White buy stake in Spindrift” (BBJ)

— He obviously needs help: “State rep charged with drunk driving, crashing into parked car, police say” (Herald)

As I briefly mentioned the other week (scroll down a bit), if Ed Markey is going to be successfully challenged in a Dem primary, it’s likely going to come from his left, not the center. Sure enough, Scott Van Voorhis reports on a rumor that U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley is “eyeing a potential challenge to Markey, presumably from his left.” … If she’s not considering it now, she’d be nuts not to consider it eventually. She’s already knocked off one incumbent Dem to get to where she is today. Why not another? … And I think she could beat Markey in a primary showdown, largely by appealing to young voters and reminding people of another 80-something guy who hung around too long.

I kind of get a kick out of the hysteria surrounding Zohran Mamdani, the democratic socialist who last month won the Dem nomination for mayor of New York. Listening to the critics, you’d think he was the second coming of Joseph Stalin, not the second coming of the hapless Bill De Blasio. But what’s even more amusing is the hero worship of Mamdani by groupies who act as if he’s dispensing political wisdom never heard before. … Unfortunately, most of his supporters haven’t a clue he’s merely the newest face on very old ideas. We’re talking ideas that pre-date the octogenarian Bernie Sanders, ideas that stretch all the way back to the 19^th century. Yeah, we’re talking that old. … Anyway, I thought of this while reading Joe Klein’s epic anti-Mamdani rant. It’s a little over the top. But it’s fun – and largely true.

One other thing: centrist Dems can criticize Mamdani all they want, but they’re going to continue to lose young voters as long as they back seriously flawed establishment types like Andrew Cuomo and Eric Adams. 

Alex Bronzini-Vender, a sophomore at Harvard, writes at the NYT that he and other applicants basically know how to game the college-admissions process by telling school officials what they want to hear, such as answering an essay question in a way that shows desired civility. But civility needs to be nurtured in classrooms, not screened for during an admissions process that can be manipulated, Bronzini-Vender writes. … I was saying roughly the same thing back in May. … Fyi: I particularly liked Bronzini-Vender’s call to “reinvest in disciplines like philosophy, history and political theory that teach people how to reason through disagreement.”

What great white sharks are to the Herald, Nantucket is to the Globe. It’s their summer niche. … Fyi: It’s only halfway through July and the Globe already has 6 stories this month about Nantucket, the most recent being Monday’s cutesy wootsy twofer: “’I was clearing out her crappy trees’: Nantucket man cut neighbor’s trees to enhance his property’s ocean view” and “On Nantucket vintage Broncos are the latest status symbols.” (The latter is not to be confused with July 3’s “ ‘Only happens in Nantucket.’ Mercedes G-Wagon mix-up delivers classic tale.”) … But, hey, the rich-are-different-from-us coverage works. Nantucket-themed pieces are consistently among the top read articles at the Globe.

Update – 7.17.25 – We’re now on the seventh Nantucket story of the month, thanks to Kevin Cullen: “What is it with the uber-rich and other people’s trees?”

Banker & Tradesman’s Steve Adams gets straight to the point on this story: “Piping hot tap water emerging from his cold-water faucets was a red flag that something unusual was occurring in the neighborhood where Robert Qua bought a condominium in 2019.” … We’re talking groundwater temperatures in the Leather District hitting 140 to 150 degrees, far above the normal 50 to 60 degrees, and sometimes people even see boiling water ‘bubbling out of manhole covers.’ … Oh, they have their suspicions about who and what’s causing the problem.  And it doesn’t involve some pointy-eared guy with a pitchfork.

Even though the Trump-Harvard battle seems far from resolved, maybe it’s time to start thinking of the coming Trump-MIT battle. Or at least it’s a battle tech titan and Trump advisor Marc Andreesen wants to wage, as the Washington Post reports. … What strikes me about Andreessen is his anger toward MIT and Stanford — and how far he (and others) will go to punish the universities for their perceived offenses.  … Reading Andreesen’s words, I’m reminded of the old Yeats line: “An intellectual hatred is the worst.”

I jumped off the Sox bandwagon after it lost a wheel or two sometime in April or May. Now I’ve scrambled back on after eight straight wins and last night’s spectacular walk-off homer by Ceddanne Rafaela. … Rafael Devers? Rafael who? … Could the Devers trade of 2025 be the turn-around equivalent of the Nomar trade of 2004? … OK, now I’m definitely getting carried away. … FYI: Rafael without an ‘a’ is now the subject of trade talk involving the Yankees. But he’s having disk-injury problems in SF. We’ll see.