Democratic U.S. Senate Race Kicks Into Gear

Published April 26, 2011

Alan Khazei will again be a Democratic senatorial hopeful. Here, Khazei talks with the media after voting in the primary he lost in 2009. (AP)

Alan Khazei will again be a Democratic senatorial hopeful. Here, Khazei talks with the media after voting in the primary he lost in 2009. (AP)

Today we saw two big developments in the U.S. Senate race. Alan Khazei, co-founder of City Year, formally announced he would run for the Democratic nomination and Joe Trippi announced he is joining Bob Massie’s campaign.

WBUR’s Alyson Whitman caught up with Khazei and found out more about why he wanted the chance to run against Scott Brown, who is, according to a recent Suffolk University poll, the most popular politician in Massachusetts.

“We have to provide jobs for people. We have to restore the American dream. We have to make sure we’re ensuring opportunity for all of our children through a strong education system,” Khazei said. “We got to deal with energy. Gas prices are at $4 a gallon. We have to get off of Mideast fossil fuels and embrace clean and renewable alternatives.”

Khazei came in behind Rep. Michael Capuano and Attorney General Martha Coakley when he ran for the same nomination in the 2009 special election.

Trippi, who joined the Massie campaign, helped turn Howard Dean into an unlikely front-runner for the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination. That was until Dean lost the Iowa caucus and went down in a blaze during a concession speech in which he let out that now-famous primal screen.