Calling Warren too partisan, Cain launches US Senate campaign

IAN CAIN, the Quincy city councilor running as a Republican challenger to US Sen. Elizabeth Warren, plans to formally launch his campaign Wednesday with some hometown help.

Quincy Mayor Tom Koch is slated to host a kick-off event at Alba, an upscale steakhouse located in the Boston suburb’s downtown area. Koch left the Democratic Party in 2018, citing its pro-abortion stance. He remains unenrolled while supporting both Democrats and Republicans running for higher office.

Cain also unenrolled as a Democrat several years ago, and stayed unenrolled until last February, when he registered as a Republican. The 41 year old filed the necessary paperwork in early April to start a campaign against the 74-year-old Warren, a Cambridge Democrat who has held her Senate seat since 2013.

Laying out his line of attack on Warren, Cain said she is too much of a partisan. “She’s part of the reason why Washington and our government stands still at times. The other schtick is [her] celebrity. Identifying some of the main brands in the world and going up against them, acting like you’re a savior,” he said, referring to her criticism of tech giant Apple and carmaker Tesla.

“I can work with both sides, no matter the party politics,” Cain added.

Asked who would get his vote for Senate majority leader if Republicans took back the chamber this fall, Cain said it was “too early” to discuss the matter, but added that he plans to be an “independent voice.”

Cain and another Republican, John Deaton, face an uphill climb to defeat the state’s senior senator: Warren was reelected in 2018 with 60 percent of the vote, beating Republican nominee Geoff Diehl. The statewide results mirror those out of Cain’s Quincy. Voters split the ticket, reelecting both Warren and Gov. Charlie Baker, whom Cain has cited as a model Republican.

Cain has served on the City Council for nearly a decade, and in January was elected by his colleagues as the nine-member body’s first gay, Black president. He cruised to reelection last November without an opponent for his ward seat.

Cain is also a co-founder of Qubic Labs, a startup incubator that is also based in Quincy. He framed his campaign in business terms: “There’s essentially a market opportunity here to provide new thinking, new perspective, and new energy in the United States Senate,” he said.

He also took a shot at his Republican rival, noting that Deaton had moved to Swansea, from Rhode Island, to challenge Warren. Deaton, an attorney who like Cain, is involved in cryptocurrency technology. He moved to Massachusetts for “politically opportunistic reasons,” said Cain, who spent his early years in Boston’s Back Bay before his family moved to Quincy.

When interviewed by CommonWealth Beacon last fall, Cain was the subject of rumors that he would challenge US Rep. Stephen Lynch, a conservative Democrat whose district runs from South Boston and Quincy down to Brockton and West Bridgewater. Cain, who once interned for Lynch, had said then he was more interested in an executive role, rather than a legislative elected position.

Asked what made him change his mind, Cain said, “I saw a very unique opportunity to leverage my experience. I view my role as a city councilor as very relatable and transferable to the US Senate. I understand what people want and what they need and what they expect on the ground level.”

He declined to say how much money his Senate campaign had raised in the last few weeks, noting that he is still gathering signatures. While Cain has hired GOP consulting firm Targeted Victory to aid him, he is still looking for a campaign manager, he added.