Markey's landslide win is bigger than Markey.

Senator Ed Markey didn't just beat Congressman Seth Moulton on Tuesday — he trounced him, and the way he did it tells you something important about where Massachusetts Democrats, and maybe national Democrats, are headed. At 80 years old, Markey ran as arguably the most unapologetically progressive Senate candidate in the country: full-throated Medicare for All (not the watered-down "universal health care" branding Moulton preferred), calls to abolish ICE, support for a third Trump impeachment push that party leadership has been trying to avoid, and an aggressive embrace of transgender rights that became a defining contrast after Moulton's controversial 2024 comments about trans athletes.

Why this matters beyond Massachusetts: Markey's win is being read on Beacon Hill and well beyond it as evidence that the primary electorate wants sharper elbows, not cautious triangulation — a data point Democratic strategists will be citing heading into 2028 presidential jockeying. Markey now cruises toward a third full term against Republican John Deaton in November, but the more interesting story is what his coalition — young voters, LGBTQ+ activists, climate organizers — signals for who's next in line to inherit that energy.

It wasn't the only test of progressive muscle this week. Boston Mayor Michelle Wu spent months and real political capital trying to oust two of her Beacon Hill antagonists, state Senators Nick Collins and William Brownsberger, over their role in killing her commercial property tax shift. Collins won comfortably. Brownsberger's race against Wu's former aide Daniel Lander is separated by roughly 20 votes and headed for a recount — a result that, win or lose, suggests Wu's influence outside City Hall has real limits, even as democratic socialist Erika Uyterhoeven's romp in the Somerville-based Senate seat shows the further left flank is very much alive in Greater Boston.

Full story at Boston Globe →

Suffolk Sheriff Steve Tompkins acquitted on extortion charges. A federal jury cleared Tompkins of pressuring cannabis entrepreneur Frank Perullo for stock in his company before it went public. Tompkins, who'd been on leave from his elected post, gets his job back; his attorney called it simply "the correct result." GBH News →

State Police ordered to reveal Flock camera locations. A Suffolk Superior Court judge sided with the ACLU of Massachusetts in a five-year fight, ruling State Police must disclose where its license-plate-reader cameras are and how often troopers search the database. It's the latest blow to Flock Safety amid a wave of towns opting out and officers being investigated for misuse. Boston Globe →

Djuna Perkins wins Norfolk DA primary. Perkins, a former state prosecutor, edged out six rivals in a race shadowed by outgoing DA Michael Morrissey's handling of the Karen Read and Sandra Birchmore cases. She'll face independent Joe Pagliarulo in November with no Republican in the race. Boston.com →

Healey and Minogue set the tone for the fall campaign. Governor Maura Healey, unopposed in her primary, is framing her reelection as a referendum on Trump. GOP nominee Mike Minogue, fresh off a landslide win over Brian Shortsleeve, wants voters to instead judge Healey's own record. Expect that split screen to define the next two months. Boston Globe →

MBTA's new fare pilots kicked in this week. Riders can now transfer unlimited times within a two-hour window across bus, subway, and ferry, and express bus fares dropped from $4.25 to $1.70 — a change the T says could save daily express riders up to $500 over the six-month pilot. Boston.com →

The two-year gap failing Massachusetts toddlers. Kids who age out of Early Intervention services at 3 but don't qualify for an IEP can fall into a support vacuum until kindergarten — sometimes six months or more with no services at all, as one Boston mother's story shows. It's a quiet but consequential gap in the state's safety net for kids with developmental delays. CommonWealth Beacon →

Today, a federal judge in Boston hears arguments on whether to block the U.S. Postal Service from imposing Trump-ordered changes to mail balloting before the midterms — a ruling that could affect how states nationwide handle mail ballots this fall. WBUR →

Sept. 9: Rhode Island holds its primary, with the attorney general's race drawing eye-popping self-funding — Keith Hoffmann has loaned his own campaign $760,000 so far for a job that pays $147,000 a year. Boston Globe →

Ongoing: Watch the Brownsberger-Lander recount in the Suffolk/Middlesex state Senate primary — a 20-vote margin that will likely need an official recount to settle. Boston.com →

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Yesterday's Biggest Contributions

Big Spending This Week

Data from the MA Office of Campaign & Political Finance

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Recent filings with the Massachusetts Office of Campaign and Political Finance:

Candidates

• Eliseu Desousa (Republican) — House, 13th Bristol — Filed: 8/31/2026

Ballot Question Committees

• Committee for Keep Cannabis Legal, Vote No on 8 — N/A, N/A — Filed: 8/28/2026

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