Dem
47
GOP
53
Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) is 79. He wants another term, at the end of which he would be 86. Democrats are yearning for new blood and may get their chance to vote for it in deep-blue Massachusetts. Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA) is a 46-year-old Marine Corps veteran who is gearing up to challenge Markey in a primary next year. He is now busy interviewing and hiring campaign staff. If he just wanted to stay in his D+11 House district, he wouldn't have to do anything. Just show up in the House, help constituents, and coast to another term easily.
In a Markey-Moulton race, generational change would be the main issue, but not the only one. Markey was a co-sponsor of the Green New Deal with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Moulton is liberal but deviates from party dogma on at least one issue. He has said: "I have two little girls; I don't want them getting run over on a playing field by a male or formerly male athlete, but as a Democrat, I'm supposed to be afraid to say that." For some Democrats, the issue of trans athletes is a litmus test. The problem is that, like it or not, polls show that almost 70% of U.S. adults agree with Moulton on this subject. In a Moulton-Markey primary race, the issue would surely be a major one, but it might not be the deciding issue, since Democrats are roughly evenly split, with 45% being for athletes playing on the team of their current gender and 41% being for birth gender being determinative. In that case, the generational issue might be the tiebreaker. (V)