Salem, Swampscott Candidates Join Race For Open U.S. House Seat

SALEM, MA — Two North Shore candidates recently joined a crowded field to replace U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton on Capitol Hill as the sitting Congressman challenges Sen. Ed Markey in the Democratic primary this year.

Moulton Chief of Staff Rick Jakious, of Swampscott, and Salem veterinarian and former State Department employee Mariah Lancaster are now among the seven declared candidates, with the majority representing the Merrimack Valley region of the district.

Jakious said his decision to live in Massachusetts while serving on Moulton's staff was "because he knew that being present in the community was the best way to serve it."

He's led a Cub Scout den in Swampscott, mentored students in Lynn and served on the boards of North Shore nonprofits, including Beyond Walls, North Shore Community Action, and Haborlight Homes.

Jakious said in a campaign announcement that he is building his campaign on the pillars of effective government and constituent services.

"For more than a decade, I've worked behind the scenes helping people when government wasn't working for them," he said. "Veterans waiting on benefits. Small business owners stuck in red tape. Families who just needed someone to pick up the phone and listen.

"I've seen the system fail. But I've also seen what happens when public servants care enough to fit it. ... I believe government can work. But only if the people in it remember who they serve."

Lancaster, who has also served as a foreign affairs officer at the State Department, said she is running "to fight for Massachusetts and our democracy" at a time when she said "the Trump administration has begun gutting our government, kidnapping our friends and neighbors, and selling off our country to the highest bidder."

"Across the country, families are struggling to survive and Washington is failing them," she said. "Republicans are dismantling generations of progress, jacking up healthcare costs, and revoking critical funding for the North Shore's energy security.

"To restore the American middle class, Democrats must realign their priorities to serve this generation of working families. We start by electing representatives who truly understand the fight we're in."

Lancaster called for the abolition of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency in the wake of the fatal shooting of a Minnesota mother last week.

"In my career as a civil servant at the State Department and through my work on Capitol Hill, I saw firsthand that the Department of Homeland Security is duplicative and a waste of tax dollars," she said in a statement to Patch. "The product of a misguided national security policy implemented over 20 years ago, ICE is an outright rogue agency — victimizing our communities, tearing families apart, and murdering Americans. The agents responsible for killing Renee Good must be held accountable and fully prosecuted.

"No one is above the law."

Jakious and Lancaster join the seven-person field that also includes former Biden Administration official Dan Koh, of Andover, former state representative and current Topsfield town moderator Jamie Belsito, Middleton software engineer and progressive activist Beth Andres-Beck, current State Rep. Tram Nguyen, of Andover, and Lynnfield businessman John Beccia.

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