In Bid To Unseat Bill Keating In Democratic Primary, Craig Swallow Makes Campaign Stop On Nantucket

Craig Swallow, a former bartender and high school history teacher who has launched a primary challenge against Representative Bill Keating, visited Nantucket Monday to speak with local voters at the Nantucket Atheneum.

Swallow, a progressive challenging Keating from the left, faces an uphill climb in his fight to unseat the eight-term incumbent, who was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2011. But Swallow said Monday that, even if he loses, he believes his campaign has already been successful in pushing Keating left on multiple issues. Swallow specifically called out funding for Israel, which Keating recently voted against, as an area where he believes his campaign has influenced the incumbent.

Keating has agreed to debate Swallow on August 24th—two days after early voting starts. The debate will likely be the best chance for Swallow, a New Bedford community organizer and Indivisible activist, to gain name recognition and make his case to the voters before election day.

On Monday, Swallow spoke about his promises to meaningfully regulate artificial intelligence, supply federal support to reduce the cost of housing, and establish Medicare for All without raising taxes. Perhaps more than anything, however, Swallow argued that Keating is inaccessible and not responsive to his constituents, failing to engage with voters, listen to their concerns, or fight for the things that matter to them.

Swallow, like Keating, has endorsed incumbent Senator Ed Markey in his reelection campaign against Seth Moulton, who currently represents Massachusetts’ sixth Congressional district in the House of Representatives. While Swallow supports term limits for federal officeholders, he said Monday that he backs Markey’s reelection bid despite the Senator’s combined 22 terms of service in Congress because of Markey’s policy platform and commitment to showing up for his constituents. Swallow added that, if elected, he would push Markey to mentor younger progressive candidates who could replace the Senator after his next term.

The Democratic Party has recently seen an upswell of support for progressive candidates running against moderate opponents. In several recent high-profile elections, progressives, including New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani, Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed, Washington, D.C., mayoral candidate Janeese Lewis George, and a trio of Mamdani-backed House candidates in New York, have defeated opponents to their right, leaving the Democratic Party establishment searching for answers.

In some ways, Swallow fits the mold of these progressive challengers, but his path to victory will be more difficult. Keating has outraised Swallow more than 10-to-1, and while there is no publicly available polling of the race, oddsmakers have given Swallow a single-digit chance of pulling off the upset.

The primary election will be held on Tuesday, September 1st. Early voting begins August 22nd. As all Congressional districts in Massachusetts are considered safe for the Democratic Party, it is widely expected that whoever wins the primary will coast to victory in the general election this November.