Incumbent U.S. Sen. Ed Markey has coasted to victory in the Massachusetts U.S. Senate Democratic Primary over challenger U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton.
Just half an hour after polls closed Tuesday, the Associated Press called the election for Markey, the commonwealth's 80-year-old junior senator who now has a clear path to a third six-year term in a heavily Democratic-leaning state. 47-year-old Moulton, like former congressman Joe Kennedy III before him in 2020, framed his bid to unseat the progressive as generational. Voters again stuck with Markey, who told WAMC he's ready and able to continue his work in Washington.
"This is the most energized I have ever been in my life," he said. "I get up and I fight Donald Trump with a passion that reflects how much harm I know he is doing, especially to the most vulnerable, to those who are the sickest, to those who are most in need."
National progressive leaders including Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and New York U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez supported Markey's re-election bid. He faces Republican John Deaton in the Nov. 3 election.
