In Massachusetts Senate Race, Moulton Says 80-Year-Old Markey Is Too Old for Another Term

Ed Markey’s response to a question about artificial intelligence has become a defining moment in his Massachusetts Senate primary against younger challenger Seth Moulton.

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whatever is inside of my iPhone or my iPad, whatever comes up

Asked whether he uses platforms such as Claude or ChatGPT, the 80-year-old senator said he uses “whatever is inside of my iPhone or my iPad, whatever comes up.” He added that he does not know “what companies my iPad may be using.” For Arsen Bagdassarian, an 18-year-old supporter of Moulton, the answer captured the concern driving the challenge: Markey would be 86 at the end of another term.

Moulton, 47, argues that Markey is too old to represent a generation dealing with artificial intelligence, rising housing costs and student debt. Bagdassarian said AI is “a major concern” and that the country needs leaders “who understand what they’re being asked to regulate.”

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what companies my iPad may be using

But younger Democrats are not united behind the age argument. Matt Kelly, president of the UMass Lowell College Democrats and a Markey supporter, acknowledged that the senator’s answer was “not a good answer.” He said, however, that he cared less about whether Markey uses the latest technology than whether he understands how to govern it. “Just because he has a younger face doesn’t mean that he has younger ideas,” Kelly said.

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a major concern

Markey has won endorsements from the High School Democrats of America and the College Democrats of America, along with support from progressive figures Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani. His younger supporters argue that five decades in politics provide a record voters can judge, while Moulton’s campaign says generational change requires a different kind of leadership.

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Just because he has a younger face doesn’t mean that he has younger ideas