It's official. Elizabeth Warren race has a new challenger − Quincy City Council president

QUINCY – City Council President and newly registered Republican Ian Cain announced his run for U.S. Senate on Wednesday morning, hoping to unseat two-term Democrat Elizabeth Warren.

Cain, 41, is best known as Quincy's first Black and openly gay city council president, co-founder of the nonprofit tech incubator QUBIC Labs and originator of the city's popular summer music festival known as PorchFest.

But soon, he'll be known across Massachusetts as a challenger in the race for U.S. Senate as Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts) is up for re-election.

In an interview with The Patriot Ledger, Cain described himself as a "small government, pro business guy" who registered as a Democrat for three or four years, figuring that in a blue state, political success would be easiest to find there.

But Cain said that over time he realized he did not share the party's priorities, especially issues around identity.

"So I unenrolled," he said. "And I reenrolled as a Republican in February." Cain joked that it was harder to come out as a Republican than as gay.

Though Cain said he reached his decision to run for Senate over the past couple of months, it was informed by life experiences going back to early childhood. Son of a Black father and Irish mother, Cain moved to Quincy when he was 5 and grew up on Wollaston Hill across the street from his grandparents.

The early years: Acting, modeling and stumping for George H.W. Bush

Cain described his younger self as "a sociable kid" who would naturally initiate conversations with people of all ages and backgrounds, so much so that perfect strangers recognized the makings of a future politician.

"People would tell me, 'You're so nice. You're going to be mayor some day,'" Cain recalled. His charisma also led to acting and modelling. An early profile by The Patriot Ledger quotes Cain describing advertisements he did for Polaroid and K-Mart.

His natural affability combined with an interest in politics gave him an early start on the road to the political arena. Cain said his grandmother would call into talk radio shows and sit down with him to watch CNN's Crossfire.

Cain spoke about a formative experience during the 1988 presidential election between George H.W. Bush and former Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis. Cain's mother fervently supported Bush, and Cain remembers going to school on election day wearing a Bush campaign sticker on his back.

During Bush's presidency, the young Cain frequently wrote him in the White House and remembers receiving brochures in response. After Bush was unseated by Clinton in 1992, Cain said he sent him a fax encouraging him to run again in 1996.

Cain's interest in politics continued through middle and high school, where he participated in school government and held elected offices, though he still remembers a stinging loss in the race for deputy mayor in eighth grade.

Entering his teenage years, Cain planned to follow former Massachusetts Senate President William Bulger's path to political success by becoming a "Triple Eagle," a graduate from Boston College High School, Boston College and Boston College Law School.

But after graduating from Boston College with a political science degree, Cain said he remembers grappling with a difficult question. "Did I really want to be a lawyer and a politician? Is there true purpose in this?"

Early career − real estate and globetrotting venture capital

Instead of law school, Cain found employment in business, first with global commercial real estate company Tishman Speyer, then with the energy-focused venture capital firm BTU Ventures.

BTU Ventures acquired and developed power plants in the Middle East, North Africa and East Asia, Cain said. For the next five years, the self-described "local Quincy kid" became a globetrotter, traveling to Tunisia, Abu Dhabi and China.

After travelling the world with BTU ventures, Cain earned a graduate degree in business from Duke University, returned to Quincy and took a job for a tech startup called Luminoso that developed out of the MIT Media Lab. But the political instinct never left him, and when an opening for the Ward 3 city council seat presented itself in 2015, Cain ran.

Back to politics, back to Quincy. Cain's election to city council

"This was the call to service I had embedded in my mind for so long," Cain said. "I had to put my money where my mouth was."

In 2016, Cain, joined the most diverse class of city councilors in Quincy's history, alongside Nina Liang, born to Chinese parents; and Noel DiBona, whose mother is from Thailand. He did so just as the downtown began perhaps its most rapid phase of redevelopment.

"I thought I could bring my professional experience to city council for the growth Quincy would soon be experiencing," he said.

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Through his election, Cain also fulfilled vicariously one of his father's unrealized goals. John Cain, who is now the city's director of community technology and support, ran unsuccessfully for city council three times between 1999 and 2003.

Cain said that just after he launched his own campaign in 2015, his father was diagnosed with stage 4 lymphoma, the most advanced stage of the disease.

"He was out there helping me," Cain said of his father. "He loves this stuff. I have the most proud and loving parents."

Happily, the elder Cain's lymphoma went into remission after two months of chemotherapy, Cain said.

QUBIC Labs, Cain's goal to make Quincy a block chain technology hub

Founded by Cain and John O'Keefe in 2019, QUBIC Labs has become an incubator for startups developing applications for blockchain technology in finance, government, healthcare and more.

The nonprofit helps startups raise capital, access office space, secure grants and more. Cain said the organization lowers barriers to entry for entrepreneurs trying to break into the sector.

Cain said QUBIC Labs started with "a vision and a PowerPoint" and has since gained private and government sponsorship, including rent-free office space from FoxRock Properties, the real estate and development firm owned by Granite Telecommunications billionaire Rob Hale.

According to its most recent "impact report," QUBIC Labs has supported more than 30 startups and led to over 100 new jobs. It obtained a $2 million state grant for its blockchain research and development program and raised $5.2 million in financial and in-kind donations. It has also hosted events to educate the public about the technology's potential.

Cain's rivals for U.S. Senate seat

Cain's advocacy for blockchain technology in part explains his challenge to Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who has criticized cryptocurrency firms using blockchain and called for stricter regulation of the industry. In particular, Warren has claimed that industry leaders have resisted reforms aimed at preventing terrorist organizations from using cryptocurrencies to finance their operations.

Unseating Warren will be an uphill battle. The two-term Democrat ran for president in 2020 and enjoys name recognition across the state and country. Her campaign committee currently has about $4.4 million on hand.

Before a general election against Warren, Cain would have to beat fellow Republican challenger John Deaton, of Swansea. A Marine veteran and lawyer, Deaton has also defended the cryptocurrency sector against perceived government interference, according to his campaign website.

After lending $1 million of his own money to his campaign, Deaton now has about $1.2 million in the war chest, according to the Federal Election Commission.

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This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: Ian Cain is a gay, Black Republican who wants Warren's US Senate seat