Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., 80, defeated Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass., in Tuesday’s Democratic Senate primary, with the Associated Press calling the race for Markey less than an hour after polls closed. It marks Markey’s bid for a third full term.
Markey has represented Massachusetts in Congress for nearly five decades. He fought off Moulton’s campaign, which centered on generational change, by leaning hard into progressive positions — including one that most Democrats nationally have avoided this election cycle: transgender athletes’ participation in sports.
“Trans athletes should be able to play,” Markey told The New York Times. “That reflects Massachusetts and who we are. And Seth Moulton does not.”
Moulton took the opposite position and argued it was costing his party votes nationally.
“I have two little girls, I don’t want them getting run over on a playing field by a male or formerly male athlete, but as a Democrat I’m supposed to be afraid to say that,” Moulton said.
Massachusetts has not sent a Republican to the Senate since 2013, when Scott Brown lost to Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass. That deep-blue lean makes it unlikely Markey’s position on the issue will hurt him in the general election.
Markey’s win adds to a string of progressive victories. He co-authored the Green New Deal resolution and had backing from Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., in the race.
The result also cuts against a broader push within the Democratic Party for generational turnover, a debate that intensified after former President Joe Biden’s troubled reelection attempt. Other longtime incumbents have fallen to younger challengers this cycle, including Rep. John Larson, D-Conn., 78, who lost to Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin, 47. Markey held his seat despite Moulton making age central to his campaign.
This is not the first time a younger challenger has failed to unseat Markey. In 2020, he defeated former Rep. Joe Kennedy III in a primary that likewise turned on the question of generational change in the Senate.
