Massachusetts voters re-elected 80-year-old U.S. Sen. Ed Markey for another six-year term, giving him an opportunity to shape the direction of national policy as President Trump’s term winds down and beyond.
[ 2026 Mass. midterm election results: Live vote count in U.S. Senate race ]
The Associated Press called the race for Markey just after the polls closed Tuesday night. The Malden Democrat defeated Republican challenger John Deaton, a Bolton Marine veteran and attorney.
Markey was first elected to Congress in 1976 as a U.S. House member. He has said this will be his last session in office. The state’s two Senate seats are now locked up until 2030, when the seat held by Sen. Elizabeth Warren is on the ballot.
Markey’s role in the next Congress is unclear. Massachusetts currently has an all-Democrat delegation and its status as majority or minority party in each branch is riding on Tuesday’s national election results.
The last time Bay State voters tapped a Republican senator was when Scott Brown was elected in 2010. The 1994 election was the last time Massachusetts elected a Republican U.S. House member, when Peter Torkildsen won his campaign to hold onto the Sixth District seat and Republican Peter Blute won his bid for reelection in the Third District.
Markey, who defeated former U.S. Rep. Joseph Kennedy III in his last run, said after his September primary night victory over Rep. Seth Moulton that his win reflected “the power of the progressive movement” which is “fueled by young people demanding more from their leaders.”
“As I travel around the state, you tell me you want something so basic, so fundamental for your families you shouldn’t even have to say it,” he said. “You want a life you can afford today and a future you can believe in tomorrow. This election, that better future is on the ballot.”
His priorities include universal childcare, affordable housing, fare-free transit, free public college, “gun-free schools,” Roe v. Wade - a Supreme Court Decision allowing women to have an abortion before the fetus is viable - restored as law, a “middle class built by organized labor,” clean air and water - echoing the Green New Deal that Markey made a central feature of his 2020 campaign, Medicare for All and codifying a “Transgender Bill of Rights” to ensure legal recognition and equal treatment for transgender people. Markey has also bashed Trump as corrupt and called for him to be impeached.
The ranking member of the U.S. Senate’s Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, Markey also said he would provide more support for Black businesses. If tapped as the committee’s chairman, Markey has said his “number one bill” would be the SPARK Act that aims to boost access to capital for entrepreneurs from underserved communities.
“The voters have made their voices heard tonight, and I respect their decision. While I disagree with the path forward, I wish Senator Markey only success in his final six-year term. His service to the Commonwealth is historic in its length and impact on our people,” Deaton said in a statement released before 8:30 p.m. “America has always been stronger when we put aside our differences and follow the threads that we share -- a lesson I relearned writing my own story. In that spirit, I remain hopeful that the next U.S. Senate will forge a new path with the U.S. House of Representatives and White House to deliver the change we desperately need.”
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