Massachusetts veterans defeat younger primary challengers

Massachusetts voters backed experience over insurgency Tuesday, handing Democratic Sen. Ed Markey and longtime House members Stephen Lynch and Richard Neal primary victories over younger challengers who argued it was time for generational change.

Markey, 80, defeated Rep. Seth Moulton, 47, to secure the Democratic nomination for Senate. Lynch, 71, won renomination in the 8th Congressional District against Patrick Roath, a 39-year-old former aide to former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick. Neal, 77, first elected to Congress in 1988, defeated Jeromie Whalen, a 39-year-old public school teacher, in the 1st District.

The results marked a strong night for some of Massachusetts’ longest-serving Democrats after a turbulent primary season nationally in which several incumbents lost to challengers. NBC News reported that Lynch avoided the fate of 11 House colleagues, including seven Democrats, who lost primary challenges this year. Two Republican senators whose challengers were endorsed by Donald Trump also lost primaries.

Markey’s race showed that calls for a new generation did not always align with the party’s left flank. Moulton campaigned on new leadership and ran as a more moderate alternative, while Markey drew support from prominent progressives including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and independent Sen. Bernie Sanders. He also had the backing of Sen. Elizabeth Warren and other members of the Massachusetts congressional delegation, while no delegation member endorsed Moulton.

“Generational change isn’t about compromising, to do the small things better,” Markey said Tuesday. “It’s about fighting to do the big things best.”

Moulton, a Marine veteran, received support from groups including VoteVets and Mikie Sherrill. Markey repeatedly criticized him over comments questioning transgender girls’ participation in girls’ sports. Moulton later apologized and said he supported the transgender community. “If you’re in the trans community or you’re a trans kid feeling the weight of the Trump administration and the Supreme Court, you matter,” Moulton said during an August debate. “You’re valued, and I will always have your back.”

In conceding, Moulton said he would support Markey. “Challenging the establishment and calling for a new generation of leadership isn’t easy. But it is necessary,” he told supporters. “We started conversations that needed to happen.”

In Lynch’s race, the ideological dynamic was different. Roath challenged him from the left, highlighting Lynch’s past breaks with Democrats, including votes against the Affordable Care Act and for the Laken Riley Act. Roath called for “Medicare for All,” abolishing ICE and restrictions on military aid to Israel. He outraised Lynch, bringing in about $1.3 million to Lynch’s roughly $910,000, and significantly outspent him on the airwaves. He also won endorsements from The Boston Globe editorial board, Patrick, progressive activist David Hogg’s group Leaders We Deserve and key teachers unions.

Lynch leaned on his long ties to the district, unions and local institutions, and argued that his experience had delivered results. “I got to know this district by living here and regularly attending hundreds of town meetings, not just to speak, but to listen and understand the needs and priorities of the people that I represent,” he said at an August forum. He also cited “tens of billions of dollars that I’ve been able to bring back to our district.”

Neal also faced a younger challenger running to his left. Whalen criticized “old-school political entanglements that got us into this mess” and supported abolishing ICE, cutting off U.S. military aid to Israel and Medicare for All. Neal spent more than $1 million on campaign ads, about 10 times Whalen’s total, according to AdImpact.

In the open 6th District, Dan Koh won the Democratic primary to succeed Moulton. Koh, a former Biden White House aide and former chief of staff at the U.S. Labor Department, was endorsed by former President Joe Biden, former Vice President Kamala Harris and former Labor Secretary and Boston Mayor Marty Walsh. He has called for abolishing ICE and passing Medicare for All.

The Democratic nominees now move toward November as heavy favorites in Massachusetts. Markey will face Republican John Deaton, who ran unopposed Tuesday and previously lost to Warren in the 2024 Senate race by about 20 percentage points.