Incumbent Sen. Ed Markey wins Massachusetts' Democratic primary for US Senate
Senator Ed Markey won the Massachusetts Democratic primary, defeating challenger Seth Moulton. The race highlighted a divide between the party's progressive establishment and those seeking generational leadership changes.
Why it matters
Illustrates the ongoing tension within the Democratic Party between long-standing progressive incumbents and younger candidates advocating for new leadership.
Sen. Ed Markey has won the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate in Massachusetts, according to a race call by The Associated Press, repelling a challenge from Rep. Seth Moulton.
While the result marks yet another win for the progressive wing of the party this election cycle, it's also a defeat for those calling for generational change and a new direction in party leadership.
In other recent primaries, races have been fought across generational lines with younger Democratic candidates running as progressives, challenging older incumbents sometimes arguing that it's time for new ideas.
Yet Markey successfully fought off discontent among Democrats with their party's establishment by arguing that he has long fought for progressive ideals.
Markey, who turned 80 this July, first became a Congressman in 1976. Moulton joined politics more than three decades later in 2014 and has repeatedly called for a new generation of leadership through the race.
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