Anti-Immigration Politics in the Next Election Cycle?

The Washington Post has story on a troubling special election in Massachussetts, which does not bode well for immigrants in the next election cycle.  When Republican Jim Ogonowski launched his long-shot bid for Congress, he prepared for an upbeat campaign in his Democratic, working-class district of Massachusetts. Last month, he was still running 10 points behind Democrat Niki Tsongas with just weeks to go before a special election. To persuade Northern Massachusetts to vote Republican, the Ogonowski campaign focused on illegal immigration. “On Tuesday, Ogonowski still fell short, but Tsongas’s 51 to 45 percent victory was a shocker in a district where both John F. Kerry and Al Gore took 57 percent of the vote, and where liberal Democratic Rep. Martin T. Meehan served comfortably for eight terms. The underwhelming victory of the wife of deceased former senator Paul Tsongas has rekindled Democratic concerns about an immigration issue they had hoped had been put to rest.”  The story talks to a number of political experts who identify “benefits” to immigrants, be it in-state fees for public universities or driver’s licenses, as the hot button immigration issue for many people.

KJ