A chilly wind reduce throughout New Bedford harbor as Jim Kendall, a retired scallop boat captain, surveyed town’s primary fishing pier. Most of the boats sat idle, whereas a couple of crew members cleaned their decks and repaired gear.
Kendall remembers how busy these docks was once years in the past, when there have been fewer rules and closures, and fishermen may head out most days of the 12 months.
Now, “if you happen to can fish, say, 60 days a 12 months, you are doing fairly rattling good,” he stated.
New Bedford is probably the most helpful industrial fishing port within the nation, touchdown tons of of thousands and thousands of {dollars} value of seafood yearly. However Kendall stated bringing in that haul is getting tougher, and the margins tighter. He blames Washington, and particularly the Democratic Occasion, for the change in fortunes.
“A number of the Democrats had principally forgotten concerning the fishing trade or simply do not pay a lot regard to it,” he stated.
As for President-elect Trump, “the fishing trade is admittedly supporting him.”
All throughout Massachusetts’ South Coast, cities and cities that voted for President Biden in 2020 flipped to Trump’s column in 2024. The previous president even got here near successful right here in New Bedford, a storied working-class metropolis that overwhelmingly supported Biden simply 4 years in the past.
Kendall stated he is shocked Trump did not win New Bedford outright, given all of the assist he sees among the many fishermen.
It wasn’t at all times this fashion. Kendall stated fisherman used to have highly effective allies within the Democratic Occasion, just like the late U.S. Sen. Ted Kennedy and retired Congressman Barney Frank.
“Matter of reality, I took Senator Kennedy on a visit across the harbor right here on my earlier boat,” he stated. “And Barney Frank, he was unbelievable. I imply, I nonetheless miss the person.”
However many fishermen are upset by latest Democratic administrations. President Obama in 2016 created the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine Nationwide Monument, closing a big swath of water off Cape Cod to industrial fishing.
Conservationists argued the closure was mandatory to guard vital habitat for endangered whales, fish and uncommon deep-sea corals. Trump lifted the closure in 2020; Biden closed it once more the following 12 months. Kendall hopes Trump once more opens the waters.
The event of offshore wind can also be deeply controversial right here. Whereas the builders usually pay fishermen for transportation and security assist, fishermen say the development has additional restricted the areas the place they will fish.
There are indicators of the President-elect’s assist all alongside New Bedford harbor, just like the Trump flag raised on a pink fishing boat additional down the pier.
Democrats are “all supporting wind, fingers down,” stated Tony Alvarez, who personal’s the boat. However in the case of fishing, “They do not give a rat’s patootie concerning the trade.”
Alvernaz stated he referred to as the day after Trump’s election “Alka Seltzer day.”
“Plop, plop, fizz, fizz, oh what a reduction it’s,” he stated.
Trump’s surging reputation amongst South Coast voters has some native Democrats soul-searching.
“If we lose to a man with such minimal character, then our insurance policies should be off observe with individuals,” stated state Rep. Chris Markey, who represents New Bedford and Dartmouth. “We have to have a look at that and replicate on that.”
Markey has deep roots within the space — his father was a six-term mayor of New Bedford. In newer years, Markey stated, he’s watched the Democratic Occasion bleed assist in his district.
“I believe that we as Democrats are out of contact with, or perceived to be out of contact with, the typical on a regular basis man,” he stated.
Markey stated the celebration ought to dial again a few of its sweeping guarantees and concentrate on smaller, winnable points like increasing the Inexpensive Care Act and passing common sense protections for abortion.
“We may most likely make everybody happy, or the overwhelming majority of the individuals, if we did 80% of what we do within the Democratic Occasion and do not go to 120 or 140%,” he stated.
Throughout the state, Democrats misplaced floor this election cycle in post-industrial cities like New Bedford, Lawrence and Chelsea.
Daybreak Blake Souza is a long-time organizer in New Bedford’s Cape Verdean group. She stated she’s watched increasingly more younger individuals, together with relations, flip to Trump. Souza stated the nationwide Democratic Occasion must reconnect with its working-class base.
“They underestimated that they wanted to go to these individuals. They couldn’t assume that they have been going to vote for them as a result of it was a Democrat,” she stated. “They needed to earn their vote, and I don’t assume sufficient of that was completed.”
Souza stated meaning assembly individuals the place they’re — at union halls, barbecues and sporting occasions.
“You realize, it’s within the weeds, the grassroots, that you just win or lose elections,” she stated.
That may additionally imply doing extra outreach on New Bedford’s fishing piers, like Ted Kennedy used to do. Democrats may nonetheless discover some voters who have not fully written them off but, like Kendall, the retired captain.
“Native Democrats or politicians that I cope with have been nice all these years,” he stated. “However like I say, in the case of the manager workplace, there was nothing for us.”
For now, Kendall stated, he’s Trump all the way in which.
