Former U.S. Senate candidate Marisa DeFranco is "seriously considering" running for John Kerry's Senate seat.
DeFranco, a Middleton immigration attorney, challenged Elizabeth Warren for the Democratic nomination last year but failed to get enough support at the state's Democratic convention to appear in a primary election. Warren went on to defeat Senator Scott Brown in November.
Scott Brown's Impact
Now that Brown has decided not to run in June's special election, DeFranco says "it takes out one more obstacle to the race. The consideration for me, the whole time was the daunting primary, being an underdog against the machine. As everyone knows, I've been there, done that."
Without party support, DeFranco has lagged behind in fundraising and name recognition. But Brown's decision "takes out a big money candidate in Scott Brown. It takes out one of the huge obstacles."
If DeFranco were to run again, she'd face two established Democrats who would also have big money on their side, including millions from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. "[U.S. Rep.] Ed Markey's [financial] support is just as daunting."
So what would be different this time?
For one, DeFranco wouldn't need to get through a Democratic convention in order to appear on a primary ballot. She would just need signatures, something she was successful in attaining to challenge Warren.
"The difference is the party can't shut me out of the primary. Whether Markey shows up to the debate is a different story."
This week, U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch also announced he is running for the seat.
DeFranco admits the underdog role is a challenge. "Doing the underdog thing twice in one year takes a lot of energy" but running for a second time in less than a year could be different. "Voters never got to speak on whether I should win or lose. There's a huge difference."
DeFranco plans to make a decision whether to run again by Friday, February 8th.
