BOSTON (AP) — U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton, a moderate Massachusetts Democrat, said Wednesday that he will challenge U.S. Sen. Edward Markey for the Democratic nomination in next year’s Senate race, arguing it’s time for the party to embrace a new generation of leadership.
The announcement makes the race one of the most anticipated primary contests in the country and pits two of the heavily Democratic state’s top politicians against one another. Markey, who fended off a challenge in 2020 from Rep. Joe Kennedy III in the Senate primary, would be 80 before his third six-year term would begin.
In a video accompanying his announcement, Moulton, 46, said the Democratic Party was stuck in the “status quo” and “isn’t fighting hard enough.”
Without naming former President Joe Biden, Moulton referenced the 2024 presidential election, when worries about Biden’s age and ability led to his departure from the race months before Election Day. The move — and Donald Trump’s subsequent victory — reignited concerns among Democrats that the party’s leaders were too old and no longer best positioned to win.
“We’re in crisis, and with everything we learned last election, I just don’t believe Sen. Markey should be running for another six-year term at 80 years old,” Moulton said in the video. “Even more, I don’t think someone who’s been in Congress for half a century is the right person to meet this moment and win the future.”
