Redistricting Forces William Keating to Move Family to Cape Home

November 08, 2011

by Chris Cassidy
Boston Herald

Beacon Hill's new congressional map is prompting U.S. Rep. William Keating to flee his recently adopted home in Quincy to take up residency in a new Cape Cod and South Coast district after lawmakers pitted him against veteran Southie congressman Stephen F. Lynch.

"After talking with my wife Tevis and our children Kristen and Patrick I have decided to run in the new 9th Congressional District, where we've owned a home for 17 years," Keating said in a statement, apparently referring to his summer home in Bourne. He will have to run in the new district, which includes Plymouth, New Bedford and Cape Cod, in 2012.

"I hope the residents of my current district - from Quincy to Provincetown and the Islands - know that their wellbeing is my primary concern, and nothing changes that. I look forward to continuing to represent the people I am currently serving, as well as the new communities," he said.

Keating's latest residency maneuver - he left his old home in Sharon for Quincy when he ran in 2010 - was forced when Quincy was merged into Lynch's South Boston-anchored district in a redistricting map unveiled at the State House yesterday. The merger was drafted despite the pending retirement of U.S. Rep. John Olver, which theoretically removed the need to pit two incumbents against each other as the state went from 10 to nine districts. But redistricting co-chairman Michael Moran said the committee created the "strongest minority-majority district in the history of the commonwealth" in U.S. Rep. Michael Capuano's Boston and Somerville-based district, creating pressure on Lynch and Keating.

The new South Coast and Cape Cod district could be competitive even with the freshman incumbent moving in.

"There won't be a lack of candidates on either the Democratic or Republican side," said New Bedford Mayor Scott Lang. "There are an awful lot of people that wake up in the morning, look in the mirror and think they can be a congressman."

Former State Sen. Robert O'Leary, who challenged Keating in the 2010 primary, said he's already mulling another run: "I wish this was the district I had run in in 2010. If you look at the numbers, I would have done very well."

The new district lines raise the prospect of a run by Senate President Therese Murray, suggested Peter Ubertaccio of Stonehill College. Other potential candidates mentioned were state Sen. Mark Montigny, Bristol County District Attorney Sam Sutter, Bristol County Sheriff Thomas Hodgson and Plymouth District Attorney Tim Cruz. But Keating's 2010 GOP rival, Jeff Perry, now in the Barnstable County sheriff's office, ruled out a rematch.

Lynch, meanwhile, welcomed his new South Shore communities, saying, "a big part of my family moved to Quincy and to Weymouth many years ago."

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