Good morning. Two weeks out from the September 1 primary, the polls are moving, the surveillance cameras are causing headaches from New Bedford to Rockland, and there's a "zombie project" back from the dead on Cape Cod. Let's get into it.

The Lead

Markey is pulling away from Moulton — and progressivism is why.

A new UMass Amherst/WCVB poll out this morning shows Senator Ed Markey with a commanding 60%-32% lead over Congressman Seth Moulton in the Democratic Senate primary — a stunning swing from a University of New Hampshire poll just last month that had Markey ahead by only 6 points. If this holds, it's not just a lead, it's a rout, and it upends the entire narrative of this race.

Here's why it matters: Moulton built his campaign on the idea that Massachusetts Democrats are hungry for a more moderate, younger alternative to the 80-year-old Markey — someone willing to needle his own party on things like transgender athletes in sports and defense policy. The new poll suggests the opposite is true. Voters who back Markey cite his progressivism as the very reason they're with him, and they rate him more trustworthy and more authentically liberal than his challenger. In a Massachusetts Democratic primary, "too moderate" turns out to be a real liability, not an asset. Political analyst Mary Anne Marsh noted that Markey and Moulton's combative body language at their last debate suggested both camps believed this was a nail-biter — but if this poll is right, one side may have been posturing.

The two candidates meet for their final debate Thursday, and Moulton needs a moment — something that shakes up a race that increasingly looks decided. Worth remembering, though: CommonWealth Beacon's polling postmortem this week is a good gut-check for anyone tempted to treat any single poll as gospel. Recent primaries in Michigan and Wisconsin both defied their final polls, sometimes badly. Two weeks is still two weeks. Full story at WCVB →

What Else You Should Know

The GOP governor's race gets a debate — sort of. Michael Minogue and Brian Shortsleeve won't share a stage before their September 1 primary, so the Globe interviewed each separately in Lawrence and Plymouth and stitched together a virtual face-off on affordability, taxes, and their ties to Charlie Baker. It's the closest thing to a debate voters are going to get. Boston Globe →

The Cape Cod machine gun range is back. Two years after Governor Maura Healey effectively killed a proposal for a machine gun range at Joint Base Cape Cod, a National Academies committee has quietly resumed an environmental review — funded by roughly $1 million from the Trump administration. Environmentalists like Andrew Gottlieb of the Association to Preserve Cape Cod call it a "zombie project" that keeps getting rejected and keeps coming back. WBUR →

A New Bedford cop allegedly used surveillance tech to stalk her ex. Officer Emily Pacheco is under internal investigation after her former girlfriend says she used the department's Flock license-plate cameras to track her movements — a "concerning" number of times, according to testimony. New Bedford has suspended its Flock program entirely while it investigates. Boston.com →

Rockland residents shut down their own license-plate-reader plan — for now. After more than two hours of public testimony packed with privacy concerns, the Rockland Select Board tabled a proposal to install six Flock Safety cameras at town entry points. Residents raised Fourth Amendment worries and questions about out-of-state data access — fears that feel a lot less theoretical after the New Bedford story above. South Shore News →

A former Pittsfield private school head faces charges in an abuse investigation. Jeannie Norris, former head of Miss Hall's School, is scheduled to be arraigned today on a charge of reckless endangerment of a child, stemming from an investigation into alleged abuse by a former teacher at the all-girls school. WWLP →

Massachusetts wealth gap data lands with a thud. A first-of-its-kind Federal Reserve Bank of Boston report finds the median wealth of white families in Massachusetts is roughly $550,000 — compared to just $1,200 for Hispanic families. That's not a typo. It's 458 times greater, and it underscores just how unevenly the state's prosperity is actually distributed. Boston Globe →

Worth Your Attention

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