PITTSFIELD — Incumbent U.S. Sen. Ed Markey joked that he doesn’t “ride the poller-coaster” when asked about his shrinking lead in the polls over his challenger, U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton, with just two months before their Democratic primary on Sept. 1.

A pair of recent polls from Emerson and the University of New Hampshire show that Markey’s margin has dipped to 5 or 6 percentage points, down from double-digit leads earlier in the spring.

“There are, without question, going to be different polls from different places that you just have to ignore and run your own campaign,” he said. Polling also shows that both Markey and Moulton hold strong prospective leads over Republican nominee John Deaton, who the winner would face in a November general election.

Amidst the backdrop of his tightening primary race, Markey spent much of his Wednesday meeting with The Eagle’s editorial board projecting confidence and criticizing his challenger on a number of issues.

Markey’s resolve comes as Moulton has amplified his calls for a generational shift in the Democratic Party. Moulton, 47, bemoaned the “calcified gerontocracy” of Democratic leadership in a January interview with The Eagle and has echoed that message on the campaign trail.

But Markey, who turns 80 soon and would be 86 by the end of his next term, maintained that he’s still the man for the job. “This is the most energized I have ever been,” he said.

Markey added that Moulton’s focus on the age gap between the two is a sign of his opponent’s inexperience. “Right now [Moulton’s] asking, after 12 years, for a promotion without earning his chops as a legislator in the House,” he said. Markey has been in the Senate since 2013 and in Congress since 1977.

Another part of Moulton’s push for change has been his vocal opposition to Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. In November 2025, Moulton announced his desire to replace Schumer, 75, with a younger Democrat, and has since called on Markey to do the same.

On Wednesday, Markey avoided weighing in on that topic. “What Bernie [Sanders] and Elizabeth [Warren] and I are focused on is creating a blue wave that is going to take over the House and Senate this year,” he said. “When we win, because of our hard work, then we need a full discussion about new leadership, new direction, new aspirations for the Democratic Party.”

On June 29, Sanders officially endorsed Markey, joining Warren.

Markey also took aim at Moulton over his controversy-provoking 2024 comments about transgender athletes. Moulton has long stood by his claim that an over-emphasis on transgender rights cost Democrats in the 2024 election cycle.

“In 2025 [Moulton] was throwing trans kids under the bus,” he said. “That’s just the complete opposite of where I am.”

The senator also criticized Moulton for some of his prior investments. Moulton, who sits on the House Armed Services Committee, has benefited from investments in private companies that have appeared before his committee in Congress.

Markey referenced Oura, a company that contracts to the U.S. Department of Defense, and Divergent Technologies, a 3D printing company that contracts to defense firms like Raytheon. Filings show these private investments, in addition to others, have made Moulton up to $1 million. “To the extent to which that has led to his own self-enrichment, I just think that's wrong,” Markey said. “That should be illegal. That should not be permitted. And I have never done that in my career.”

Moulton’s campaign has claimed that these investments were handled by financial advisers and were initially funded by money that Moulton’s wife, Liz, had made in her career.

Markey’s focus on the upcoming 2026 elections extends beyond his race with Moulton. “The polling is so bad for Republicans across the country that they need to do something about it, because people are coming with pitchforks for them in November,” he said.

Markey pointed to rising food, housing, and energy prices, as well as the ongoing conflict in Iran, as reasons for Americans’ dissatisfaction with Republican leadership.

But he warned about President Donald Trump’s continued pressure on Congress to pass the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, or SAVE America Act, and the potential for an ICE presence at voting stations come November. “Everything that’s going on here is pointing towards the election this fall,” he said. “The suppression of the vote. The attempt to intimidate voters so that they don’t show up, so that he doesn’t have to face accountability.”

Two weeks ago, Trump abruptly refused to sign a bipartisan housing bill that sought to expand access to home ownership for Americans, saying that his signing would be contingent on the passage of the SAVE Act. The SAVE Act seeks to enforce proof of ID at polling places and restrict mail-in voting, and does not have enough support in the Senate to pass. Some experts are concerned about its potential to prevent some American citizens from exercising the right to vote. “It’s a voter suppression act,” Markey said.

Despite his worries about election manipulation, Markey remained optimistic about the Democrats’ chances in November, especially with Wednesday’s finding that Trump had reportedly netted over $2 billion in 2025. “Turnout is going to go up and up and up as we have an agenda for [Americans] at their kitchen table and, at the same time, we’re able to pin Trump in his all-you-can-eat corruption buffet,” he said.