Incumbent Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) easily defeated a much younger challenger Tuesday in Massachusetts’ Democratic Senate primary.
Markey, 80, topped Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.) in a 76%-24% vote. He will face Republican John Deaton in November.
The race centered on whether Markey was too old to serve a third term in the Senate. If he wins re-election, the longtime liberal stalwart will be 86 by the end of his next term.
“Is he too old? Look, every political consultant will tell me not to say this, but the honest truth is, yes,” Moulton, 47, told the Boston Globe last fall, when asked about Markey during his campaign launch.
Moulton, a six-term congressman and one of the first House Democrats to call for former President Joe Biden to end his re-election bid over concerns about his age and mental acuity, seized on Markey stumbling over a recent debate question about artificial intelligence to highlight the need for a generational change.
When asked last week if he uses Claude or ChatGPT, Markey seemed completely oblivious to the AI platforms.
“I use whatever is inside of my iPhone or my iPad — whatever comes up, and I don’t know what companies my iPad may be using,” the senator responded.
Moulton shot back: “With all due respect, senator, if you don’t even know what you’re using on your phone or your iPad, like, this is why we need a new generation of leaders.”
The congressman further argued that “not understanding the basics of AI – the most important technology of our lifetime – should be disqualifying for a US Senator.”
Markey, however, had strong support from both far-left and establishment elements of the Democratic Party.
The incumbent’s campaign received a $62,000 boost from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC), the campaign arm of Senate Democrats, less than three weeks before Election Day.
Markey received endorsements from socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), “Squad” Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
The octogenarian senator’s early support for the Green New Deal and so-called “Medicare for all” also helped win him the support of younger Dems.
On the campaign trail, Markey hammered Moulton over his critical comments about how Democrats approach the issue of transgender males playing in female sports.
The senator accused Moulton of throwing “trans kids under the bus,” for stating back in 2024 that he didn’t want his young daughters “getting run over on a playing field by a male or formerly male athlete” and suggesting Democrats are afraid to take on the issue.
Moulton, however, seemed to walk back his position during a debate earlier this month.
“I think they should,” he said, when asked if transgender athletes should be allowed to take part in girls’ sports, adding that there should be “a discussion” about “issues of safety and fairness.”
