With his blue suit and tie and signature Nike high-tops, it was easy to spot Sen. Ed Markey greeting the lunchtime crowd at Westwood’s Muffin House Café. The casual look and eager handshakes sent a message to the crowd: At 80, this son of a milkman says he’s still running hard to retain his seat in Washington.
With just days to go until the Massachusetts Senate primary, Markey and his challenger, Congressman Seth Moulton, spent the week making their closing arguments to voters.
“This is the most energized I’ve ever been,” Markey told WBUR in Westwood. “Donald Trump brings out the Malden in me every day, and I fight him every day.”
This is one of several Democratic primaries being fought across generational lines across the country. Markey has been in Congress since before Moulton, 47, was born.
For Moulton, his final message is the same as when he launched his campaign almost a year ago.
“It’s a question of whether one person should hang on to a seat in Congress for 50 years while the world passes him by,” Moulton told WBUR, after touring Veteran Pathways, a Leominster nonprofit that provides housing and family assistance to veterans.
“It’s time for a new generation of leadership because we have a new generation of challenges,” he said.
While Democrats in several states debate whether to embrace progressives or moderates, Massachusetts most recently has settled on progressive representation in the Senate, with Markey and Sen. Elizabeth Warren hewing to the left side of the political spectrum.
That gives Markey, who has spent decades burnishing his reputation as a progressive leader, an advantage in this primary contest — even as Moulton pushes for that “generational change.”
At the Muffin House, Markey exchanged high fives with the staff and posed for selfies with just about everyone, including some small children who had no idea who he was. But there were plenty of people who did.
“I really feel like he is the most qualified, but also he’s the most authentic and he stands by what he says,” said Hania Khuri-Trapper of Westwood.
Her husband, Chris Trapper, said he valued Markey’s long experience as a leader on climate action.
“He’s always been a leader and progressive before it was kind of cool,” Trapper said.
Moulton argues that “there are two progressives in this race.” In fact, Moulton and Markey mostly agree on policy. But Moulton has staked his career on challenging the old guard.
He won won his first race for Congress 12 years ago by unseating a Democratic veteran, John Tierney, and went on to challenge the leadership of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi — a move that won him few friends in the party. Now, he’s campaigning against the establishment again, arguing that Markey and people like Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer have clung to power for too long.
“We need people willing to challenge the establishment, not get along with it,” Moulton told WBUR in Leominster. “Markey has been part of the Democratic establishment for a long time.”
John Cronin, a Democratic state senator from Fitchburg who joined Moulton on the tour of the veterans facility, said he supports him because “the Democratic playbook is not working,” and the party needs new energy.
“For the past 10 years the Democratic Party has been ineffective at fighting against Donald Trump,” he said.
Markey, meanwhile, maintains a strong following on the left and argues that he’s the true progressive on the ballot. He co-sponsored the Green New Deal; backs Medicare for all, and is pressing for higher taxes on millionaires and billionaires. Progressive leaders from Warren and Sen. Bernie Sanders to Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez have endorsed him, despite his age.
“They are backing me in this election because they know that I have had their back on every single tough fight on the floor of the United States Senate,” Markey said. He called himself “the youngest guy in the room” when it comes to new ideas and “fighting for the future.”
This is the second time Markey has faced a primary challenge across generational lines. Six years ago he defeated Rep. Joe Kennedy III, a young member of the famous Massachusetts political family. Kennedy, like Moulton, argued it was time for a new generation of leadership. Voters disagreed.
Polls suggest Markey has a substantial lead in the race — lots of Democrats like his progressive record and are willing to overlook his age. But primary polling is notoriously difficult and often inaccurate. Moulton is hoping his argument for generational change will deliver an upset on Tuesday.
This article was originally published on WBUR.org.
Copyright 2026 WBUR
