All But 3 Newton City Councilors Endorse Councilor Auchincloss

NEWTON, MA — All but four Newton City councilors have indicated they support colleague and Democratic candidate Jake Auchincloss to replace Rep. Joe Kennedy in the 4th Congressional District race Nov. 3.

As Republican candidate Julie Hall and Auchincloss prepare to face off, Auchincloss secured the endorsements of 19 of the 23 other councilors and six of the eight school committee members.

Notably absent from the list were Newton city councilors Julia Malakie, Bill Humphrey and Brenda Noel.

Newton Mayor Ruthanne Fuller also signed the endorsement that read in part:

"We come together as elected officials of Newton to enthusiastically endorse Jake Auchincloss for Congress."

The race began after Kennedy announced he would step down to challenge U.S. Sen. Ed Markey in the Democratic primary. That set up a nine-way race for the open seat in the district that stretches from Brookline and Newton and Wellesley to Attleboro. It was a hotly contested race, but Auchincloss edged out Brookline's Jesse Mermell with about a 1.3 percentage point win.

Auchincloss is a Newton native and Harvard graduate who served as a captain in the Marines, commanding an infantry unit in Helmand Province, Afghanistan in 2012 and a reconnaissance unit in Panama in 2015.

He was elected to the Newton City Council in 2015 and re-elected in 2017. He came under fire in the Democratic campaign because of his Republican background and previous stances.

Now, Auchincloss has picked up endorsements from the likes of former Gov. Michael Dukakis, former congressman Barney Frank and Kennedy, who ended up losing the senate race, himself. His former challenger Newton city councilor Becky Grossman, has also endorsed him separately.

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The 4th Congressional District includes parts of Bristol, Middlesex, Norfolk, Plymouth and Worcester counties. Before Kennedy was elected in 2012, Barney Frank held the seat from 1981 until Kennedy took over.

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