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Fifty years after Bill Keating first ran for public office, winning a seat in the Massachusetts House of Representatives, the congressman is asking voters to send him to Washington for a ninth term.
His opponent, Craig Swallow, a New Bedford activist who has never held elected office, argues that Keating’s long career is precisely why the 9th Congressional District needs a change.
The two Democrats will face each other in the Sept. 1 primary. The winner will advance to the Nov. 3 general election and will face Republican R. Tyler MacAllister.
Key election dates
The Massachusetts primary election is Sept. 1, with polls open 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.
The voter registration deadline is Aug. 22.
The vote by mail application deadline is Aug. 25 at 5 p.m.
The early voting period is Aug. 22 to 28.
The 9th Congressional District includes the Cape and Islands and parts of the South Coast and South Shore, including parts of Bristol and Plymouth counties.
Keating, who turns 74 in September, was first elected to Congress in 2010 after serving in the Massachusetts House and Senate and as Norfolk County district attorney. Swallow, 40, is a former teacher and hospitality worker who lives in New Bedford’s North End and embraces his background as an activist.
Although they share similar positions on several major issues — including the need to overhaul ICE and address housing and other rising costs — they disagree on what type of leadership the 9th District should have.
“I saw the need and the lack of representation,” Swallow said. “There’s a reason why Democrats are still underwater, even with what’s happening with this administration. Part of it’s because they don’t show up.”
Keating said his tenure allows him to “understand from the bottom up how things work,” and has shaped how he deals with the government.
“When I see the laws being violated, when I see authoritarian policies that are so abusive to our values, I can translate that into individual circumstances that I’ve witnessed and been a part of,” Keating said.
“That puts me, I think, in a different position than so many other people, because I’ve seen it and I’ve been involved in this issue for decades.”
Swallow campaigns on change
Swallow’s path to politics did not run through elected office, but he said politics has touched different parts of his life, allowing him to “tune in.” Born and raised in New Bedford, he worked as a substitute teacher at New Bedford High School and at Success Academy charter schools in New York City.
He met his husband after moving to Fire Island, New York, in 2013. They lived briefly in Austin, Texas, before moving to New Bedford in 2023.
“It was fun to cast a vote against Ted Cruz, but we are New England boys at heart,” Swallow said with a laugh.
Swallow said managing restaurants from New York City to Austin gave him insight into the pressures facing working-class and middle-class people. After returning to New Bedford in November 2023, he worked at Rose Alley Ale House and became co-leader of Indivisible South Coast, a grassroots group that helped organize protests such as “Hands Off!” and “No Kings.” He stepped down from the groups in January to run for Congress. He believes his activism will benefit his campaign.
“I see it as something that I will always wear with pride,” he said, adding that concerns about affordability, health insurance and housing can unite constituents with different political views.
“A lot of people are unsure of what their future holds,” he said. “These issues have been prevalent in things that people have campaigned on since I was born.”
Swallow’s campaign focuses less on ideological differences than on Keating’s long tenure and what he calls the incumbent’s lack of accessibility.
“You’re going to have accessibility to me. I pass out palm cards everywhere I go — door-knocking, events. There’s a phone number on the back of that card. It doesn’t go to anyone on my team. It goes directly to me.”
Nearly five decades in politics
Keating’s political career goes back to 1976, when, at 23, he was elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives. Months before that year’s primary, The Sharon Advocate asked him about his support for a state Equal Rights Amendment: “Are the laws on the books now enough to guarantee equal rights for all?”
Keating answered: “History shows us that the laws now on the books are not used properly and are not adequate. These laws can be repealed at any time.”
“The amazing thing looking back,” said Keating now, “is that our country hasn’t come as far as I had hoped back then it would.”
Keating said he believes that, now more than ever, Democrats need to regain control of the House and push back against President Donald Trump’s expansion of executive power — and that his experience equips him to help lead that fight.
“I’m not afraid to speak up and fight the most powerful,” Keating said.
Asked whether this would be his final term, Keating did not answer directly. His office said he is focused on his current term and the next one, should voters return him to Congress.
His top priority, he said, both for the New Bedford region and the country, is affordability.
“The rising cost of living is crippling individuals and families and seniors on limited income,” he said.
As one step toward lowering costs, Keating said a Democratic House could require congressional approval of presidential tariffs or reclaim tariff authority previously delegated to the president.
“I hope a new majority will vote to make sure that Trump can’t keep imposing these tariffs, which are doing no economic benefit, but it amounts to a sales tax on Americans.”
Keating listed accomplishments he believes constituents recognize, including securing almost $1 million to expand St. Luke’s Hospital’s Level II Trauma Center.
“There’s no sign up there; I’m not Donald Trump,” he said with a laugh. “But if people walk around New Bedford, they will see the effects of this.”
Similar goals, different arguments
The distance between Keating and Swallow on policy is narrower than the distance between their résumés.
Both say U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement cannot be fixed through ordinary reform. Swallow calls for abolishing ICE and replacing it with a system resembling the former Immigration and Naturalization Service.
“I believe that we are well past the point of even trying to reform an agency like that,” Swallow said. “We need a complete overhaul.”
Keating stops short of using the word “abolish,” but calls for a reconstruction.
“ICE should be structurally taken down and built up for its intended purpose,” Keating said. “It’s lost its purpose. It’s lost its mission.”
On housing, Swallow proposes restrictions on short-term rentals and taxing of vacant properties. On Cape Cod, he says, Airbnbs have cut into the long-term rental supply, leaving fewer year-round leases for people who live in the community. He argues that housing should be treated as an infrastructure issue rather than a private-sector one.
Keating places more emphasis on federal grants and expanding the housing supply. He said builders face rising material costs and workforce shortages, the latter worsened by the Trump administration’s deportation of immigrant workers.
Both candidates support Medicare for All. Swallow criticizes the current system because it ties health care to employment and private insurers’ profits. Keating is an original co-sponsor of the Medicare for All Act, which would establish a national health insurance program, but he also defends the Affordable Care Act, which preserves employer-based coverage and private insurance.
The clearest divide is over Congress itself. Swallow supports limiting House members to five terms and barring former members from lobbying for 10 years.
“No more career politicians, and it’s back to public servants,” he said. Keating is seeking a ninth term.
Their campaign finances reflect that divide. Filings through June 30 show Keating reported $380,084 in receipts. Political committees contributed $154,600 — nearly 41% of the total. Keating said much of that support came from labor organizations, allowing workers to exercise influence collectively.
“All the labor workers in the area that [have] entered the race are all on my side because I’ve represented working people,” said Keating.
Swallow reported $33,076 in receipts and no political-committee contributions. He entered July with $9,103 on hand, compared with Keating’s $518,500 — a nearly 57-fold difference.
Swallow said there was no way around that disparity: He is campaigning to get money out of politics, and his fundraising reflects a reliance on smaller donations.
A debate over accessibility
Swallow has repeatedly criticized Keating on social media, particularly Facebook, where he has called him a “corporate establishment Democrat.” He has also criticized Keating for providing too few opportunities for constituents to speak with him.
Keating, for his part, has largely avoided mentioning Swallow or responding to his attacks.
“I prefer to run myself,” Keating told The Light when asked about his opponent. “I prefer to just be positive and run about the things we’ve done, the accomplishments we’ve made, the trust that we’ve built. There are times and campaigns, I’ll be honest, where maybe if people are on the attack, we have to counter, but we try not to do that.”
The only debate currently scheduled between the candidates is set for Aug. 24 at 7 p.m. on WATD 95.9 FM in Marshfield, two days after early voting begins. The debate will also be livestreamed on YouTube by The Local Seen.
Swallow criticized the timing in a Facebook post announcing the debate. To The Light, he said that since July, he has emailed Keating’s office, called and left voicemails, and dropped off a printed copy of the email requesting two debates and two town halls.
“I understand that a sitting congressman attracts a larger crowd than a young progressive candidate. But it’s intentional,” Swallow said. “He doesn’t want to engage in that way.”
Keating’s office said the congressman had agreed to participate in multiple debates and forums, including one Swallow was scheduled to attend but did not.
Email Eleonora Bianchi at ebianchi@newbedfordlight.org.
Presenting this election as a choice between “experience” and “change” is certainly one way to frame it. But Keating’s “experience” of spending a half century in politics has estranged him from the experiences of ordinary voters. Keating has been a war booster for years, and did much of it from his seats on the House Foreign Affairs and Armed Services committees. This gave him a chance to do a little insider trading, such as his Boeing investments which occurred right around the time he was authorizing billions for Boeing JDAMs to be used on Gazan civilians. While Keating was backslapping union bureaucrats and taking their money and that of other defense contractors, he had a real aversion to talking to the public. I recall the last town hall he did around here a few years ago at the Law School in Dartmouth. He spun stories for an hour, took 15 minutes of questions, then literally told the audience he had to go pick up his mother-in-law. This is a man who is deeply out of touch with his constituents but deeply in the pockets of his donors. Eleonora Bianchi may be absolutely right that there’s not much daylight beween Keating and Swallow. Craig Swallow’s platform is based on fairly “safe” planks: Healthcare, Education & Workforce Development, Housing, Energy & Climate Justice, Cost of Living. But voters are electing someone who, among other things, must have a strong backbone in Congress, support a completely different set of foreign policy principles, and restore some long-lost trust to voters in this district. Not to mention keeping us out of wars instead of cheerleading them, as Bill Keating has done right up to the moment his constituents started calling him on it.