Staff Reports
Representative Ayanna Pressley told a packed crowd at Roxbury Community College that “The Confederacy is still alive and well” and that “That’s all MAGA is.” The remarks came as she campaigned for Senator Ed Markey in the closing days before the Massachusetts Democratic primary. If you like dramatic language, you got it — and if you like practical politics, you got something to worry about.
What Pressley said at the Roxbury rally
At the Markey campaign event, Rep. Ayanna Pressley delivered blunt, charged lines: “The Confederacy is still alive and well… That’s all MAGA is,” followed by “White supremacy is still alive and well. Anti-Blackness will still be alive and well.” The setting was clearly a get-out-the-vote appearance for Senator Ed Markey as early voting was already underway before the primary scheduled for Sept. 1. Pressley has already publicly endorsed Markey after deciding not to run herself, so her presence was meant to carry weight — and it did, in words that leave few middle-ground answers.
Why this matters in the Markey–Moulton primary
The timing is no accident. Polling shows Senator Markey with a commanding lead over Representative Seth Moulton — roughly 60% to 32% in recent UMass polling — and progressive surrogates are trying to lock down turnout. That strategy can work: sharp rhetoric drives base voters to the polls. But it also hands a tidy talking point to opponents. Branding “MAGA” as the Confederacy is the kind of slogan that will be replayed by Moulton’s camp to paint the race as polarized and extreme rather than a debate about records and ideas.
Rhetorical risks and the political payoff
Political theater has its place, but equating a modern political movement with the Confederacy crosses into moral shorthand that simplifies complex voters into caricatures. The payoff is immediate: energized progressive supporters and a headline-grabbing quote. The risk is just as real: moderates and independents who tune out overheated rhetoric may respond to a message that sounds more accusatory than persuasive. If the Markey campaign wants a turnout boost, this helps. If they want to expand the map, it complicates the pitch.
Bottom line: politics, not sermons
Voters in Massachusetts should ask themselves whether they want marker-pen slogans or concrete solutions. Inflation, public safety, and health costs don’t care about rhetorical finesse. Democrats fighting among themselves over labels while the rest of the electorate wrestles with real problems is neither clever nor useful. Pressley’s speech will energize some and enrage others — and in a tightly managed primary, that split can matter. If campaigns want to win, they should focus less on grand historical analogies and more on how to actually govern.
