Massachusetts 2026 Congressional elections

[themissinglink]

Why is Seth Moulton running against Ed Markey? He thinks the senator is too old. - The Boston Globe

In an exclusive interview with the Globe, the Salem congressman cited Ed Markey's age and seniority as core concerns behind his campaign.

bostonglobe.com

In an exclusive interview with The Boston Globe, Moulton, the 46-year old Iraq War veteran and six-term congressman, said he’s running for Senate because “leaders in our party continue to follow the same old playbook that has allowed [President] Trump to tear apart our country and hurt so many people in Massachusetts and across America.”
His reason for challenging Markey isn’t ideological: in fact, Moulton said he agrees with Markey on “the vast majority of issues.”
Instead, he pointed to Markey’s age and seniority — he is turning 80 next July and has served in Congress since 1976 — as core concerns behind his campaign. Moulton believes Democrats risk losing voters’ trust, and elections, if they continue to back candidates who are seen as too old.
“Is he too old?” Moulton asked. “Look, every political consultant will tell me not to say this, but the honest truth is, yes, Senator Markey is a very nice guy, but he’s been in Congress for 50 years, and he’ll be 86 years old at the end of his next term as our junior senator.”

 

[RandomWalk]

And of course his high speed rail plan is right there in the announcement.

 

[HenryAlan]

He's not wrong about age concerns (not just for Markey, but for most of the Senate). I like the idea of a younger, but ideologically compatible candidate taking up the reins. But Markey needs to step down and endorse somebody. I don't really think a fight between him and somebody like Moulton is helpful, but the Senator should consider the fact that this will be two elections in a row involving a younger, but otherwise similar primary challenger.

 

[F-Line to Dudley]

He's not wrong about age concerns (not just for Markey, but for most of the Senate). I like the idea of a younger, but ideologically compatible candidate taking up the reins. But Markey needs to step down and endorse somebody. I don't really think a fight between him and somebody like Moulton is helpful, but the Senator should consider the fact that this will be two elections in a row involving a younger, but otherwise similar primary challenger.

Moulton's ranked the second-most conservative member of the Massachusetts delegation (after Lynch), so I wouldn't say he and Markey are all that similar. There's pretty clear demarcations between them...clearer than in the Markey-Kennedy tilt of 5 years ago.

 

[SteelyTom]

I wish Moulton the best, but I imagine he's too far to the right for most of the Dem. establishment and primary voters.

 

[HenryAlan]

Moulton's ranked the second-most conservative member of the Massachusetts delegation (after Lynch), so I wouldn't say he and Markey are all that similar. There's pretty clear demarcations between them...clearer than in the Markey-Kennedy tilt of 5 years ago.

Sure, he's more conservative on the edges. An open primary would help to sort that, with other younger candidates, such as Campbell, Wu, maybe a return by Kennedy. But for such a primary to happen, Markey needs to retire.

 

[MrDee12345]

On paper, he's a good candidate. Iraq war vet. Helps with veterans issues. Liberal but not stupid-liberal.

But he's got the personality of a bag of chips and that's going to hurt him.

 

[SteelyTom]

On paper, he's a good candidate. Iraq war vet. Helps with veterans issues. Liberal but not stupid-liberal.

But he's got the personality of a bag of chips and that's going to hurt him.

He is, however, a sentient being.

 

[Jeremi]

He is, however, a sentient being.

He has a BS, an MBA, and MPA from Harvard, which is the equivalent brain damage load of a 16-year NFL career. He shouldn't be allowed near any levers of power.

 

[kmp1284]

He has a BS, an MBA, and MPA from Harvard, which is the equivalent brain damage load of a 16-year NFL career. He shouldn't be allowed near any levers of power.

What kind of educational background would you prefer in a senator?

 

[Jeremi]

What kind of educational background would you prefer in a senator?

I’d rather vote for a high school dropout than another resume-obsessed Harvard freak.

 

[kmp1284]

I’d rather vote for a high school dropout than another resume-obsessed Harvard freak.

Guess you‘ll have to figure out a name to write in then. In Massachusetts, a high school dropout isn’t getting elected as dog catcher.

 

[F-Line to Dudley]

The problem with Moulton is that he likes to vote against his party on really big votes that garner him attention for doing so. Going by ProgressivePunch's rankings of political lean (yeah, yeah, it's lefty-centric...but they're very comprehensive in data points), he's about 10 percentage points worse on "crucial" votes than he is on overall votes where he's pretty much an automatic party-line...and that's why they give him only a C rating overall and rank him as utterly replacement-level for his district's partisan lean. Given that he's got an overall reputation as kind of an attention whore and an inconsistent-at-best advocate for his pet causes, the raw vote data tends to fit the vibe he gives off.

PP, BTW, ranks Markey the third-most progressive Senator of all behind Liz Warren (#1) and Hawaii's Mazie Hirono (#2). And his voting record is almost exactly the same in "crucial" vs. non-crucial votes, so he's a whole lot more consistent on-the-record. As I said in my previous post, there's much clearer political demarcations in this primary than there was with Markey-Kennedy in 2020. Either the age issue really, really lands hard and #1 or Moulton is going to have a very tough time trying to gain traction record-vs.-record with a further left-leaning primary electorate that figures to be extra-energized to the left in '26.

 

[KCasiglio]

I'm so eager to vote for someone younger than Markey, but being one of the right-most senators in New England isn't the promise I'm looking for

 

[RandomWalk]

Who are the young progressives in the pipe for Senate? Katherine Clark is probably waiting to be Speaker, and she’s north of 60. Ayanna Presley or Michelle Wu?

 

[kmp1284]

The problem with Moulton is that he likes to vote against his party on really big votes that garner him attention for doing so. Going by ProgressivePunch's rankings of political lean (yeah, yeah, it's lefty-centric...but they're very comprehensive in data points), he's about 10 percentage points worse on "crucial" votes than he is on overall votes where he's pretty much an automatic party-line...and that's why they give him only a C rating overall

If the party as a whole had voted the way he did they’d probably have the presidency and Congress.

 

[jklo]

The problem with Moulton is that he likes to vote against his party on really big votes that garner him attention for doing so. Going by ProgressivePunch's rankings of political lean (yeah, yeah, it's lefty-centric...but they're very comprehensive in data points), he's about 10 percentage points worse on "crucial" votes than he is on overall votes where he's pretty much an automatic party-line...

I would be surprised to hear that Moulton (or any of the MA House Delegation really) votes anything but party line. Party Line and PP may not be entirely compatible.

Be kind of a sweet gig really. Once you're in, you don't have to do any real work. As long as you remain in favor with the Party Brass you're unlikely to lose.

I could see Moulton fearing he'd be the one pushed out if MA were to lose a seat again. Hence the attempt to get the Senate job.

 

[F-Line to Dudley]

I would be surprised to hear that Moulton (or any of the MA House Delegation really) votes anything but party line. Party Line and PP may not be entirely compatible.

Be kind of a sweet gig really. Once you're in, you don't have to do any real work. As long as you remain in favor with the Party Brass you're unlikely to lose.

I could see Moulton fearing he'd be the one pushed out if MA were to lose a seat again. Hence the attempt to get the Senate job.

Moulton's already garnered himself a primary opponent for '26 in the 6th district, so he may be triangulating that soft numbers for Markey on the age issue constitutes an escape to higher ground vs. defending his home turf. And he royally pissed off the party brass in 2018 by raising a ruckus trying to oust the incumbent caucus leader when Dems retook the House, so he's never been all that popular with the party machine (another reason he's unlike Kennedy in '20...I much doubt Nancy Pelosi is going to endorse the challenger this time given that Moulton's the one who tried to oust her). General election electorate ≠ primary election electorate in a closed primary so he's got policy, record, and inside-ball vulnerabilities for what he's trying to do. It'll matter the world how much the primary electorate ranks Markey's age as a primary motivating factor, and we won't know--despite some early soft polling--where that really trends until middle of next year because Mass. voters are notorious for not paying much attention to the races until a couple months out from an election (as we saw with this year's Boston Mayoral race that turned into totally not-a-race when midsummer hit and people actually started paying attention).

 

[as02155]

stupid-liberal

If he's willing to throw trans people under the proverbial train, I suspect he's got a big lesson coming.

 

[MrDee12345]

If he's willing to throw trans people under the proverbial train, I suspect he's got a big lesson coming.

I'd hardly say he threw trans people under the "proverbial train." He simply stated his discomfort with allowing trans girls/women to play competitive sports with natal girls and women, a position that is only controversial within certain circles of the far left.

He's been a champion for LGBTQ rights, especially for veterans.