Jewish ex-Marine Jake Auchincloss wins Massachusetts Dem congressional primary

Jake Auchincloss, a Jewish former Marine, has won a crowded Democratic congressional primary in Massachusetts’ Fourth District.

Auchincloss, who currently serves as a city councilor in the city of Newton, was one of several Jewish Democrats competing to succeed Rep. Joe Kennedy III, who unsuccessfully challenged Sen. Ed Markey in last week’s Senate primary. After Tuesday’s primary, Auchincloss was neck and neck with the more progressive Jesse Mermell, also Jewish. Final results were determined Friday.

Auchincloss, 32, is a scion of an influential family who graduated from Harvard and served in the Marines, and he was endorsed by the Boston Globe. His maternal grandparents fled pogroms in Ukraine and he visited Israel in college. He links to a full position paper on Israel and other Jewish issues on his website; in it he notes that he experienced anti-Semitism in the military. He’s pro-two-state-solution and believes in a compromise brokered only by Israelis and Palestinians, not outsiders.

Critics pointed out that he had previously registered with and worked for the Republican Party.

Meanwhile, Jewish primary challengers Alex Morse and Robbie Goldstein lost their bids in last week’s state primary.