WASHINGTON — On the surface, it looked like just another day on the job for Senator Ed Markey.
On Nov. 26, Markey spoke at a weekly gathering of progressive protesters outside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in Burlington, Mass., praising their mission to draw attention to the Trump administration’s deportation policy.
But the unremarkable scene obscured a messier behind-the-scenes power struggle that illustrates an emerging reality of the 2026 Senate race in Massachusetts.
Publicly, Markey is hardly acknowledging his primary challenger, Representative Seth Moulton of Salem, as any sort of threat. But privately, he’s acting like a seasoned political competitor.
Like Markey, Moulton had also made plans to speak at the anti-ICE demonstration that week in Burlington, which sits in the congressman’s district.
But Markey’s team issued an ultimatum to the organizers: He would not appear at the event if Moulton was there. Informed of Markey’s demand, Moulton ultimately decided to withdraw; the senator was the sole “keynote” speaker at the gathering, with his remarks later posted to social media.
The fuss stemmed in part from a misunderstanding. Both Moulton’s and Markey’s teams were told ahead of time by different people that the speaking slot on Nov. 26 was open. Markey’s staff had actually committed the morning of Nov. 24 that he would go, according to one source close to the protest organizers, and when Moulton’s team began finalizing plans, other organizers told them the slot was not up for grabs after all.
The senator did not want to appear alongside Moulton at the event so as to not distract from the advocates’ focus on Trump’s immigration policy, according to a source close to the senator.
Ultimately, Markey had boxed Moulton out of an event in his own district. Nearly five months later, Moulton hasn’t yet spoken at the protest.
The saga may seem like a petty dust-up around a political event that, while significant among local activists, is hardly a high-profile affair. But it’s notable in the broader context of the primary campaign and points to Markey’s strategy since the congressman launched his challenge last October.
With the primary election now six months away, Markey and his campaign have largely declined to directly attack Moulton, address Moulton’s own attacks, or invoke the Salem congressman’s name much at all. Moulton, meanwhile, has aggressively gone after the incumbent senator, arguing he is too old to serve another term and that a new generation of leaders is needed.
Markey’s calculation could be that going after Moulton will only elevate his top challenger and draw attention to the contest. After all, he’s leading in all available public opinion polls and has won the support of nearly the entire state congressional delegation as well as many local officials — including in Moulton’s own district.
“Markey is doing the classic incumbent thing where you ignore your opponent as long as you can so you don’t give them credibility or an opportunity to engage,” said Democratic strategist Mary Ann Marsh.
Indeed, at the moment, there are no scheduled debates or forums featuring the primary candidates — and it’s not for lack of trying on Moulton’s part.
Recently, Moulton’s campaign communicated with organizers of two different candidate forums slated for the spring. One organizer told them Markey’s team was not considering participation in any debates or forums until after June 2, directly after the state Democratic Party convention.
Moulton spokesperson Taylor Hebble told the Globe, “It’s disappointing that after 48 years in Washington, Senator Markey has resorted to backroom maneuvers to protect the status quo.”
“The energy on the ground is clearly on Seth’s side,” she said, saying Moulton is drawing big crowds at meet-and-greets around the state and bringing new Democrats and independents into the primary caucus process. (He will need to do that to make the September ballot.)
In response to the Globe, Markey campaign manager Cam Charbonnier said the senator is “focused on doing his job” by countering the Trump administration and securing federal funding for Massachusetts, among other things.
“That is where his focus will remain, and the strong support we’re seeing from across the state only reinforces that this is exactly what the people of Massachusetts expect from him, especially during a time of national crisis,” Charbonnier added.
At no point did he mention Moulton.
It’s all a stark departure from Markey’s last primary. By February 2020, the senator had already debated his challenger, former representative Joe Kennedy III. That year, Kennedy’s challenge to Markey drew national attention as a party-defining battle, one that the incumbent — initially the underdog — handily won by recasting himself as a progressive champion.
“There is certainly a lot less intrigue to this race than there was six years ago,” said UMass-Lowell pollster Josh Dyck. “Granted, in that race, what was interesting is that there was Kennedy, who many felt was the front-runner in the beginning.”
Moulton, 47, may have hoped taking on the 79-year-old Markey would vault the race to the center of the party’s soul-searching over the need for generational change in the post-Biden era. Instead, the primary fight has so far been overshadowed on that front by other races, such as the Democratic primary for US Senate in Maine.
Since Moulton launched in October, there’s been scant national media coverage of the race. While he has outraised Markey, both have posted relatively modest fund-raising hauls. A third candidate, Alex Rikleen, has been campaigning actively but raising little money.
“I don’t see or hear much about this race,” said Sonya Bykofsky, chair of the Lenox Town Democratic Committee, which has hosted candidates. With Democratic voters feeling overwhelmed and alarmed at the state of the country, “people have ‘bigger fish to fry,’” she said, adding there is general satisfaction with Markey.
When below-the-surface tension has bubbled up, it’s taken the form of subtle shots across the bow.
At the massive No Kings demonstrations in Boston last October — which came just days after Moulton had launched his campaign — Markey stepped onto the stage for his remarks, conspicuously draped in a transgender pride flag.
The senator didn’t need to spell much out in that setting. Moulton was still facing blowback for his comments one year earlier, arguing that Democrats had botched their messaging around the issue of youth transgender athletes, which outraged many progressives in Massachusetts. Markey has long championed transgender rights.
“Here in Massachusetts, we stand for what is right,” Markey said, during his speech. “We stand with trans people because trans rights are human rights.”
A few moments later, Moulton took the stage — and was met with some boos from the crowd.
At the same time, Markey hasn’t shied away from going after Moulton in less high-profile settings.
Several Markey campaign fund-raising emails use Moulton as a foil, even if they don’t use his name. “My opponent threw trans kids under the bus,” blared the subject line of one January message. “If you are ready to stop throwing people under the bus and focus on uniting us against the corrupt billionaire class, please join my campaign today with a contribution,” it read.
Since kicking off his campaign for a third Senate term last year, Markey has appeared sensitive to the dynamics of a primary challenge, even while claiming he was not thinking about it.
Markey’s first rollout of local official endorsements, in July 2025, featured Democratic notables from “Newton to Fall River” — the extent of the district held by Representative Jake Auchincloss, who was considered a possible primary challenger. In an interview with the Globe in September, Markey denied that there was any pointed message behind the endorsement slate.
Auchincloss passed on running, as did Representative Ayanna Pressley, who is popular in her Boston base and among progressives. Entering the race, Moulton was perhaps best known outside his North Shore district for moments where he grabbed national attention, such as his 2020 presidential bid or his push in 2018 for former Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi to step aside.
“Six years ago, we found that both candidates were both really, really known and well liked,” said Scott Ferson, a Democratic consultant who worked on Moulton’s first successful race for Congress in 2014 and worked on Markey’s 2020 Senate campaign as well as the current one. “This time voters just don’t know who Moulton is, and Markey is trying to take advantage of that.”
Sam Brodey can be reached at sam.brodey@globe.com. Follow him @sambrodey. James Pindell is a Globe political reporter who reports and analyzes American politics, especially in New England.