Seth Moulton picked up a high-profile endorsement Tuesday night as The Boston Globe backed the Marblehead native over incumbent Sen. Ed Markey in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate.
“I am deeply honored to receive the endorsement of The Boston Globe,” Moulton said Tuesday night. “When the Globe endorsed our campaign in 2014, it was a call for new leadership and fresh ideas. Their endorsement tonight sends a clear signal: Massachusetts is ready for next-generation leadership and a positive progressive vision that urgently delivers results on housing, climate and the cost of living.”
Moulton added, “We have undeniable momentum on our side. Working families across the Commonwealth are looking to the future and are ready for change.”
The Globe’s endorsement reads, “This is not a call for change for change’s sake, or an endorsement of youth for the sake of youth alone. Moulton has proven leadership skills that will serve him well if he reaches the Senate, and his positions on major issues — including health care, the cost of living and foreign policy — have been consistent with the values of most Massachusetts voters and this board.”
The editorial continues, “On his proven courage in battle and in public life, in his independent nature, in his ideas for modernizing Massachusetts, in his willingness to push back against rigid ideology on both right and left, Seth Moulton is the right person for the job. The future must be now.”
The endorsement addresses claims that Markey is the progressive candidate, while Moulton is more moderate.
“Markey has questioned whether Moulton is sufficiently progressive — the sort of litmus-test question that is no doubt important to many Democratic primary voters but is arguably far less so for independents,” the editorial states. “If that criticism sounds familiar, it’s because Markey also used it against the last young Democrat to challenge him: Representative Joe Kennedy III in 2020. It seems the Markey of 2026 is channeling the Markey playbook of old.”
In 2020, the Globe endorsed Markey over challenger Joe Kennedy.
The Current reached out to the Markey campaign but did not immediately receive a response.
Veteran political consultant Michael Goldman, who lives in Marblehead, said he wasn’t surprised by the Globe’s endorsement, but he’s not sure it will matter to voters.
“The bigger the race, the better-known the candidates are, the less the impact,” he told the Current Tuesday night.
Two polls released this week show Markey leading the race by double digits. Moulton and Markey will meet for their final debate Thursday at 8 p.m. It will air on WCVB-TV and WBUR.
