Photo: Getty Images
BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) — Rep. Seth Moulton announced his campaign for Senate on Wednesday, looking to challenge longtime Sen. Ed Markey in the 2026 primary.
“Democrats have failed to stop Donald Trump’s harmful, racist agenda. Our party has clung to the status quo, insistent on using the same old playbook, and isn’t fighting hard enough,” Moulton said in the video announcing his campaign.
Moulton, 46, called Markey a “good man,” but called for a “new generation of leadership.”
“I don’t think someone that’s been in Congress for half a century is the right person to meet this moment and win the future,” Moulton said.
Markey has been serving on Capitol Hill since 1976, when he was elected to the House of Representatives.
He’s held his Senate seat since 2013, and would be 80 years old at the start of his third term next year.
Moulton, a moderate Democrat, said America is a “crisis,” and that this fight cannot be put off for another six years.
“The next generation will keep paying the cost if we don’t change course,” Moulton said.
The former Marine veteran, who represents Massachusetts’ 6th congressional district, was sworn into the House in 2015 and ran unopposed last year. He also launched a bid for the presidency in 2020.
In his campaign video, Moulton emphasized his mission to lower costs and tackle climate change, along with pledging his support for universal healthcare and a ban on assault weapons.
Moulton also talked about his accomplishments in Washington, including his legislation that created the 988 mental health lifeline.
In a statement to WBZ NewsRadio, Markey's campaign manager Cam Carbonnier said that while Moulton "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," Carbonnier said.