Massachusetts voters will decide whether the Democratic Party’s summer revolt against long-serving incumbents will reach 80-year-old Senator Ed Markey in Tuesday’s primary. His younger Democratic challenger, 47-year-old Representative Seth Moulton, has argued that Markey is too old to serve another term.
The Massachusetts Senate primary reverses the pattern seen in several earlier contests, in which young progressive candidates challenged and sometimes defeated older incumbents portrayed as symbols of a cautious, outdated establishment.
Markey, who has served in Congress since 1976, is campaigning as the progressive candidate, while Moulton has shifted some of his more moderate positions closer to those of his older rival in an effort to attract younger voters.
Polling suggests Markey is likely to overcome concerns about his age and win a third full Senate term. If successful, he would be 86 at the end of it.
Markey’s progressive credentials have been strengthened by endorsements from prominent left-wing figures, including Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders and his fellow Massachusetts senator, Elizabeth Warren.
Markey and Moulton clash over age and experience
During a recent televised debate, Markey directly addressed questions about his age. “I think everyone watching this debate can see that I’m more energized than I’ve ever been before in my life. I am criss-crossing the state. I’m fighting for families,” the senator said.
“Congressman Moulton has a hard time keeping up with me in the course of this campaign.”
Moulton, a former Marine who served in Iraq before later running a private healthcare company, has called for age limits for members of Congress. He contrasted his campaign schedule with Markey’s.
“I’ve done over 50 town halls. You’ve done a couple,” he told Markey. “You’ve missed three candidate forums just in the past week. It’s a lot of work to represent this entire state.”
The age issue became more pointed when the debate turned to technology and the candidates’ personal use of artificial intelligence. Asked whether he used AI platforms such as ChatGPT in his work, Markey said he uses “whatever is inside of my iPhone and my iPad – whatever comes up”.
Moulton cited the answer as evidence that Markey did not fully understand the latest technology or its potential to transform every sector of society.
“Senator,” he said, “if you don’t even know what you’re using on your phone or your iPad, this is why we need a new generation of leaders to regulate these technologies to make sure that they are safe.”
Moulton takes more moderate positions
Moulton, who entered the House of Representatives in 2015, has adopted more moderate positions than Markey on issues including healthcare and transgender athletes. On healthcare, he has stopped short of supporting the single-payer system backed by his opponent.
At a recent debate, Moulton apologized for previously saying, after Kamala Harris lost to Donald Trump in 2024, that he did not want his daughters “getting run over on a playing field by a male or formerly male athlete”.
Moulton has also said he would not vote for Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer if elected. Schumer, 75, has been presented as an example of the ageing and out-of-touch establishment leadership that critics say has alienated younger and left-leaning voters.
In heavily Democratic Massachusetts, the Democratic primary often determines who will win the general election.
Markey leads in Massachusetts Senate primary polling
An Emerson College Polling survey released on Sunday found that voters appeared willing to look beyond Markey’s age. The poll showed Markey leading Moulton by 60% to 33%, a substantial improvement from Emerson’s May survey, when Markey held a five-point advantage over the congressman.
“If these numbers hold, this race will mirror Markey’s successful ‘peak-late’ approach to winning in 2020,” Spencer Kimball, executive director of Emerson College Polling, said.
Kimball was referring to Markey’s defeat of then-Representative Joe Kennedy III, a member of Massachusetts’s best-known political dynasty. Despite Kennedy’s youth — he was 39 at the time — young progressives backed Markey and portrayed him as the candidate most willing to challenge the party establishment.
A Markey victory would run against the broader backlash against elderly leaders, which critics have described as a gerontocracy.
Joe Biden abandoned his 2024 presidential re-election campaign amid concerns about his mental acuity after a disastrous debate against Trump in Atlanta. Trump went on to defeat Biden’s replacement, Harris, but is himself 80 and has faced increasing questions about his health and ability to serve.
Former Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, 84, has been absent from Congress for months after a fall and hospitalization, prompting intense speculation about his health.
On the campaign trail, Markey has presented his age as a source of experience. “I’ve been standing up to the bosses for a long time, so I know no one gives it to you,” he says in one of his most prominent advertisements, featuring Warren and Sanders. “We have to fight for it.”
