Sen Ed Markey(D-MA), 80, trounced his younger, more moderate opponent, Rep. Seth Moulton. [](#ngr-4f3a924f-3110-43bd-ab99-1a884c8ff446)
According to a UMass Amherst poll, Markey led Seth Moulton 63 percent to 28 percent among likely Democratic primary voters. Younger voters backed Markey over Moulton by 31 points (53-22). Women supported Markey by 41 points (65-24). College-educated voters favored Markey by 33 points (62-29). People of color supported Markey by 20 points (49-29).
Moulton had raised over $2 million in the fourth quarter of 2025, drawing support from donors including Harvard University and Fidelity Investments. He received $49,967 from AIPAC's PAC and its super PAC, United Democracy Project. Over his career, Moulton has taken more than $2 million from corporate PACs.
But Moulton announced he would return AIPAC donations and refuse further contributions, citing disagreement with AIPAC's support for the current Israeli government. Edward Markey had been raising campaign funds at a slower pace than Moulton.
Commonwealth Together PAC spent $630,000 opposing Moulton as of September 1, with an additional $1,592,370.33 in pending notices as of that same date.
Moulton has compared Markey to President Biden, and Moulton himself publicly called out President Biden's late-term decline.
Markey won 66.2 percent of the vote in the 2020 Senate race, and the primary is scheduled for September 1, 2026, with the general election to follow on November 3, 2026. Massachusetts has approximately 4.92 million registered voters, with approximately 66.6 percent unenrolled (independent). Approximately 47 percent of Massachusetts adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher.
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