There's an issue that's been getting a lot of attention in
recent days in this race. And I want to tell you exactly why it
matters. Because it's an important one to me.

Senator Markey doesn't live in Massachusetts.

[link removed]

The Boston Globe just published a close look at his time in
office. Here's what they found:

"Markey spends less time at home than any other member of the
Massachusetts congressional delegation."

"The senator even spent 22 fewer nights in Massachusetts than
his colleague Elizabeth Warren last year -- when she was running
for president."

"His nights at home picked up the closer his re-election
campaign drew."

His own campaign recently put out a map of his travels that
showed he'd only been in the western half of the state a handful
of times in the six years before this election cycle.

And I'm sorry, but that's not good enough.

This issue is so much bigger than where you choose to rest your
head at night. It's about how connected you are to the
communities you serve. How aware you are of their struggles,
their lived experience, their hopes and their fears. How
available you are to respond.

When I was deciding whether to get into this race, I called
around to community leaders across the state. And person after
person said: I've never met him. He's never here. I don't know
him. He doesn't show up.

A long time ago, it was par for the course for Senators and
Members of Congress to spend a whole lot more time in Washington.

This isn't how it works anymore. Voters are done with the old
model of a remote politician who thinks they can just legislate
from the halls of the Capitol, and not show up at home. They're
done with politicians who tell a community what it needs from
afar--rather than pulling up a chair to ask.

If that model of representation worked, we wouldn't be where we
are today: with a government that has wholly failed to respond to
the pain its people are feeling, from racial injustice to
economic inequity to a broken health care system and a planet on
fire.

I understand this job requires you to be in DC an awful lot. I
understand that balancing the demands of this schedule with a
family is really, really hard.

But I also know that it's what you sign up for. That when you
take that oath of office you give your word to the people you
represent -- that you will be there for them in every sense of the
word.

And you just can't do that, if you're not here.

Massachusetts is where I live. It's where Lauren and I are
raising our two kids.

As your next U.S. Senator, I promise I won't lose sight of home.

If you're with me, chip in here.
( [link removed] )


Best,

Joe

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