Sen. Edward J. Markey, the 80-year-old progressive stalwart from Massachusetts, sailed to victory in his Democratic primary Tuesday as a pair of septuagenarian House Democrats turned back younger challengers. 

With their victories, Reps. Stephen F. Lynch and Richard E. Neal avoided joining the seven House Democrats to lose primary challenges this year, mostly to progressive and younger rivals.  

In the Senate race, Markey was leading Rep. Seth Moulton, whose campaign was built on a call for generational change, 65 percent to 35 percent, with 81 percent of the vote in, according to The Associated Press. 

“Tonight is a testament to the power of the progressive movement of our nation,’’ Markey told supporters in Boston. “It is a progressive movement fueled by young people demanding more from their leaders, and it’s your voices that are the ones we need to hear right now. Your leadership will show us the way.”

In deep-blue Massachusetts, Markey will be heavily favored to win in November against Marine Corps veteran John Deaton, who was unopposed for the Republican nomination. Deaton was also the losing GOP nominee to Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren in 2024. 

If he wins, Markey has pledged to serve one last term, at the end of which he would be 86. 

A push for generational change has surged through Democratic politics this year, as the party continues to grapple with the fallout from Joe Biden’s ill-fated 2024 reelection campaign. Among the House Democrats who lost their bids for renomination this year, most were felled by opponents running to their left.  

But in Massachusetts, it was Markey who assumed the progressive mantle against 47-year-old Moulton, highlighting his legislative record and his calls to abolish the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency and pass “Medicare for All.” 

He also embraced transgender rights, criticizing Moulton for saying after the 2024 election that he didn’t want his daughters “getting run over on a playing field by a male or formerly male athlete.” (Moulton later apologized.)

Markey relied on support from progressive allies, such as Reps. Ayanna S. Pressley and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, as well as an army of young volunteers.

Moulton made Markey’s age the focus of his campaign, asserting that it was “time for a new generation of leadership to take on a new generation of challenges and opportunities.” At a recent debate, Markey was asked whether he used artificial intelligence. “I use whatever is inside my iPhone or my iPad, whatever comes up,” he responded.

To Moulton, Markey’s halting answer signified the senator’s failure to grasp an essential technology reshaping American society, and it was quickly repurposed for a digital ad.

Moulton’s career has been marked by a willingness to do battle with his party’s elders. In 2014, he won his North Shore congressional seat after dislodging a nine-term Democratic incumbent. A few years later, he led an ultimately unsuccessful uprising against incoming Speaker Nancy Pelosi, then the party’s most powerful woman. And a year after that, he took a stab at running for president; his long-shot bid lasted all of four months.

“Challenging the establishment and calling for a new generation of leadership isn’t easy, but it is necessary. We started conversations that needed to happen, and I will never stop pushing the Democratic Party and our country to look toward the future,’’ Moulton told supporters in Dorchester. “We didn’t achieve our goal tonight, but I am confident that because of this campaign, others will be inspired to buck the system when they’re told to wait their turn.”

Markey was first elected to the Massachusetts legislature when Richard M. Nixon served in the White House, then came to the House in 1976 and moved to the Senate after winning a special election in 2013.

This isn’t the first time he has faced a younger Democrat seeking to harness dissatisfaction with the gerontocracy in Washington. In 2020, he was challenged by -Rep. Joseph P. Kennedy III. The result was less lopsided: Markey won by about 10 points, handing the Kennedy family its first loss in a Massachusetts election.

House races

In the 8th District, Lynch, 71, staved off challenger Patrick Roath, a 39-year-old lawyer and voting rights activist from Jamaica Plain.

With just under 80 percent of votes counted, Lynch was leading Roath 57 percent to 43 percent, the AP reported early Wednesday morning. 

Roath, who had the backing of Leaders We Deserve, a political group founded by Gen Z activist David Hogg, outraised the incumbent during the campaign and criticized his at-times moderate voting record as out of step with the politics of the district. 

But Lynch, a former ironworker from South Boston who was first elected to the House in 2001, focused on his seniority and his working-class background.

In the 1st District in Western Massachusetts, Neal, 77, defeated 39-year-old teacher Jeromie Whalen. But the margin was closer than expected, considering the incumbent’s towering fundraising advantage over his challenger. With an estimated 90 percent of votes in, Neal was leading Whalen 54 percent to 46 percent, the AP reported early Wednesday morning. 

Still, the result appears to be the closest primary race of Neal’s near-four-decade congressional career. As the top Democrat on the powerful Ways and Means Committee, Neal emphasized the millions of dollars he’s brought back to the district as he campaigned for a 20th term. He also significantly outraised Whalen, who ran a grassroots campaign from his canary-yellow Toyota cargo van. 

Other House Democrats who easily turned back primary challenges Tuesday included House Minority Whip Katherine M. Clark, Rep. William Keating and Rep. Jake Auchincloss. 

And in the race to succeed Moulton, former Biden White House adviser Dan Koh beat out a crowd of Democrats vying for 6th District in the state’s North Shore.  

Koh, who also worked for former Labor Secretary and former Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh, was leading the field with 41 percent, just after midnight Wednesday, according to the AP. His nearest challenger, state Rep. Tram Nguyen, lagged more than 10 points behind.

The contest marked Koh’s second run for Congress. He sought the nearby 3rd District seat in 2018, narrowly losing the Democratic nomination to Lori Trahan. In this race, Trahan endorsed Nguyen, while Koh touted endorsements from former President Joe Biden and former Vice President Kamala Harris. He also had the support of former Rep. John F. Tierney, who held the seat before Moulton. 

Koh is favored to prevail over Republican Army veteran Micah Jones in the general election for the deep-blue seat. Victory would make Koh, who is of Korean and Lebanese descent, the first Asian American to represent Massachusetts in Congress.