Time and tide, Chaucer told us, wait for no man. Except, it seems, Ed Markey.

Against the backdrop of a national electorate increasingly fed up with the old ways of Washington and the aging politicians who dominate its halls of power, Massachusetts voters rejected a challenger campaigning on the theme of generational change and delivered a resounding victory to an 80-year-old incumbent who arrived on Capitol Hill when Gerald Ford was in the White House.

Markey, a five-decade fixture in Congress – with the long-winded, stentorian speaking style to prove it – easily defeated US Rep. Seth Moulton in Tuesday’s Democratic primary, piling up a nearly 2-to-1 margin over the 47-year-old one-time Marine platoon leader.

Markey, who came late to statewide office, winning the Senate seat in 2013 after serving more than 35 years in the House, has fashioned himself into the Bernie Sanders of Massachusetts politics – an avuncular, gray-haired champion of impatient, young progressives.

Markey played the card brilliantly six years ago against another young Democratic congressman, Joe Kennedy III, becoming the first person to beat a Kennedy in a Massachusetts election.

Fast forward to this year’s race and Markey – who turned 80 during the primary campaign against Moulton – managed to convince voters again to leave aside any concerns about his age.

In what became practically his campaign mantra, Markey repeated the line to all who raised the issue: “It’s not your age, it’s the age of your ideas that are important.”

Markey has not been in complete denial over the inevitable facts of life. He said during the race that, if reelected, this would be his last six-year term.

In other words, while he has insisted that he is not too old to do the job, he seemed to tacitly admit that he almost is.

More Context

• Sen. Ed Markey and the chainsaw to democracy (March 2025)
• OPINION: Sen. Markey: Pass the torch (September, 2025)