The road to the Democratic nomination for the Senate in Massachusetts is starting to clear for Elizabeth Warren, with fellow candidate Alan Khazei dropping out of the race Wednesday afternoon.
The Boston Globe reports that Khazei will make his decision official at noon Thursday. On Wednesday morning, he acknowledged that Warren’s presence in the race has affected his own prospects.
“She has struck a chord, no doubt about it,” Khazei said. “It’s definitely affected my position. So fundraising has been tougher, and in terms of attention…it’s challenging. Things have definitely shifted.”
Khazei, the founder of City Year, was previously a candidate in the special election of late 2009 and early 2010, to replace the late Democratic Sen. Ted Kennedy. State Attorney General Martha Coakley won the Democratic primary, but then went on to lose in a stunning upset against Republican Scott Brown.
Khazei isn’t the first contender to see the writing on the wall. Newton Mayor and Iraq War veteran Setti Warren (no relation) dropped out of the race in September. “Look, Elizabeth Warren has captured the imagination of Democrats nationally and here in the state,” Setti Warren said at the time. “She’s certainly changed the race for me and it was clear to me that I could not win.”
This past Tuesday, he endorsed Elizabeth Warren.
Polls have shown a close race between Scott Brown and Elizabeth Warren. On the one hand, Brown has exhibited strong skills as a campaigner. On the other, a major challenge for him going into 2012 is that he is a Republican senator in a deep-blue state, which is expected to vote Democratic by a wide margin in the presidential race.
