Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass., announced Wednesday morning that he is launching a bid for the Senate, challenging Sen. Ed Markey. Moulton's bid is the first high-profile challenge to Markey, a Democrat who has been in Congress for nearly five decades.
"Real people across Massachusetts are being hurt by Democratic leaders' refusing to do everything they can to win," he said in his announcement video. "We've got to look in the mirror and be honest: It's time for change."
Moulton, 46, invoked age in his argument against Markey, who is 79. Democrats continue to grapple with the aftermath of former President Joe Biden's failed campaign, in which polling indicated voters widely perceived him to be too old to run for a second term, ultimately prompting renewed conversations about generational change and aging politicians.
"We're in a 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 his announcement 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."
"Sen. Markey is a good man, but it's time for a new generation of leadership, and that's why I'm running for U.S. Senate," he added.
Markey's campaign manager, Cam Charbonnier, said in response to Moulton's announcement that while he "is launching a political campaign during a government shutdown, Senator Markey is doing his job — voting against Trump’s extremist agenda and working to stop the MAGA attacks on health care so that we can reopen the government."
"That’s what leadership looks like and what the residents of Massachusetts expect from their Senator," Charbonnier said in a statement.
In his announcement video, Moulton emphasized his support for universal health care, protecting democracy and addressing climate change. He slammed President Donald Trump's "harmful, racist agenda" and offered a rebuke of his own party, saying it has "clung to the status quo, insisted on using the same old playbook and isn't fighting hard enough."
"The next generation will keep paying the cost if we don't change course," he said. "This isn't a fight we can put off for another six years."
Markey is a champion of progressive policies such as the environmental and energy proposals he pushed as co-author of the Green New Deal. One of the longest-serving members of Congress, he began his career in the House in 1977 and was sworn in as a senator in 2013.
Markey easily won re-election in 2020, securing about two-thirds of the vote in the deep-blue state.
Moulton, a former Marine Corps officer, was sworn into office in 2015 and represents a district north of Boston. After a failed run for president in 2020, he ran unopposed for re-election to the House last year, winning almost 98% of the vote.
