Rep. Seth Moulton Eyes Progress Despite Uncertain House: Election 2022

SALEM, MA — U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Salem) will return to what could be a different Capitol Hill landscape to represent the state's Sixth Congressional District after a victory against Republican Peabody businessman Bob May and Libertarian Georgetown businessman Mark Tashjian.

NBC News projected Moulton as the winner Tuesday night. As of 11 p.m., Moulton had 60 percent of the vote, to 38.1 percent for May and 1.9 percent for Tashjian with 30 percent of precincts reporting.

Moulton, who has served in Congress since 2015, spoke with Patch on Tuesday about what he hopes to deliver for the district and the state in what was expected to be an altered landscape than the past two years when Democrats controlled the presidency and both houses of Congress.

"It's been the most productive Congress in a half-century but many American people don't appreciate that," he told Patch. "We passed the first major gun safety legislation in 30 years, passed a historic infrastructure bill, passed COVID relief, the Inflation Reduction Act, the Chips and Science bills, the PACT Act to take of our veterans.

"We've had many times the legislative accomplishments that Republicans had when they controlled the House."

Still, Moulton allows that "there is no getting around the fact that people are frustrated about inflation" and that people blaming President Joe Biden for the inflation "when there is little a president can do about inflation" contributed to forecasted Republican gains in the House of Representative in the mid-terms.

"I would like to see Congress come together on immigration reform, address inflation, advance the Chips and Science Act and further lower prescription drug prices," he said. "But if the House is led by (Republican U.S. Rep.) Kevin McCarthy, I fear they will be more interested in meaningless investigations than doing the work for the American people."

Moulton said he wants Congress to pursue a "dual approach" to the energy crisis that includes assuring access to affordable energy in the short term while investing in green energy alternatives that will make America more energy independent.

"I believe we should not be depending on oil in the long term," he said. "Not only because of climate change, but also because of national security concerns like we've seen from the war in Ukraine.

"Unfortunately, a lot of people don't see the value in both approaches and only want to do one or the other."

Moulton said he will continue to push for infrastructure funding for spending on the North Shore, including in the cleanup of Swampscott's polluted King's Beach and the Merrimack River, as well as advocate for an overhaul of the MBTA.

"A lot of this is hard work behind the scenes to make sure Massachusetts is winning the competition for funds and allocating the funds we can get," he said. "It also requires good management back here at home. I just wrote a memo to (Attorney General and next Massachusetts governor) Maura Healey about the qualifications we need to expect in (the next) MBTA general manager having experience in managing capital projects.

"Is it such a crazy idea that we hire someone to run the T who has experience running a transportation agency?"

Moulton said the future of the North Shore commuter rail should mean electrified, regional service "so we have faster, nicer, more frequent trains because that's what they have pretty much everywhere else in the world."

Moulton said he is also looking forward to continuing his work on constituent services casework that included 2,600 cases opened in 2022 and more than $8 million returned to 6th MA District constituents since 2015.

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)