The 4th congressional district is mostly in southern
Massachusetts and includes
Brookline, the southwestern suburbs of
Boston, and northern
Bristol County. The incumbent was Democrat
Joe Kennedy III, who was reelected with 97.7% of the vote in 2018 without major-party opposition. The open seat attracted 12 candidates to file for the primary. On September 4, the Associated Press called the race for
Jake Auchincloss, who won with 34,971 votes, a 1.4% margin over Jesse Mermell. Auchincloss went on to defeat Republican Julie Hall in the general election.
Democratic primary Candidates Nominee •
Jake Auchincloss,
Newton city councilor, U.S. Marine veteran, and former
Republican political organizer for Governor
Charlie Baker's 2014 campaign
Eliminated in primary • Becky Grossman,
Newton city councilor •
Alan Khazei, co-founder and former
CEO of
City Year and candidate for the
U.S. Senate in 2010 • Ihssane Leckey, former Wall Street regulator •
Natalia Linos, epidemiologist and executive director of the FXB Center for Health and Human Rights at Harvard University • Jesse Mermell, former
Brookline select boardmember and former aide to former governor
Deval Patrick • Ben Sigel, attorney and former president of the Hispanic National Bar Association
Withdrew • David Cavell, Assistant Attorney General of Massachusetts and former aide to President
Barack Obama (withdrew on August 13 and endorsed Mermell) (remained on ballot) • Nick Matthew, former public school teacher and nonprofit activist
(endorsed Leckey) • Herb Robinson, engineer • Thomas Shack, former Massachusetts State Comptroller
(endorsed Cavell, then Khazei) • Chris Zannetos, tech entrepreneur
(withdrew on August 26 and endorsed Mermell) (remained on ballot) Declined • Chris Dempsey, former policy director for
Joe Kennedy III's election campaign in 2012 •
Deb Goldberg,
Massachusetts State Treasurer •
Jay Gonzalez, former state secretary of administration and finance and nominee for
governor of Massachusetts in
2018 •
Patricia Haddad, state representative •
Joe Kennedy III, incumbent U.S. representative
(ran for U.S. Senate) Eliminated in primary • David Rosa, U.S. Army veteran
Declined •
Shawn Dooley, state representative •
Shaunna O'Connell, mayor of
Taunton and former state representative •
Keiko Orrall, former state representative
Endorsements Primary results General election Predictions Results ==District 5==