Growing up in Malden, Ed Markey said he understood the struggles his parents faced and how they dealt with them.

Markey’s mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. She faced a 13-year struggle, and Markey’s father spent the years caring for her “while working incredibly hard as a truck driver for the Hood Milk Company to support us.” When Markey’s mother passed away, the two packs of Camels his father had smoked each day for 50 years caught up with him.

“His doctor once told me something that stayed with me. He said my father’s determination to care for my mother had kept him going far longer than anyone expected, that he had a mission. When that mission ended, the toll of those years of smoking finally caught up with him,” Markey said. “Hearing that changed me. In that moment I realized tobacco companies were doing this to families everywhere, not just mine. And I remember thinking to myself: ‘I’m gonna get Big Tobacco,’ because they were putting family after family through the same pain.”

Markey went on to serve as a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1973 to 1976. 

“For me, public service became about protecting other families from the same kind of harm that big powerful corporations had inflicted on mine,” Markey said. 

Markey has held his seat as the junior U.S. senator from Massachusetts since 2013, when his predecessor, John Kerry, was appointed U.S. secretary of state.. Prior to that, the Democrat served 20 terms – 18 full and two partial – as the U.S. representative for Massachusetts’ 7th Congressional District. 

He told the Swampscott Tides that the idea of delivering for the people of Massachusetts is what has kept him motivated in Congress for 50 years. He talked of traveling weekly throughout Massachusetts, “visiting small businesses on Main Streets, meeting with workers in union halls, speaking with students on college campuses and hearing from families at local events and town gatherings.”

“Those conversations are incredibly important to me. Listening directly to the people of Massachusetts—about the challenges they’re facing and the opportunities they see—helps guide the work I do in the Senate. Staying connected means showing up, listening carefully, and making sure the voices of our communities are reflected in the fights I take on in Washington,” Markey said. “Public service is not a sprint. It is a marathon. That persistence is how we achieved things people once thought were impossible.”

Markey said one of the accomplishments throughout his career that he is most proud of is the E-Rate program, which has delivered over $75 billion to connect schools and libraries to the internet over the past 30 years. 

“E‑Rate helped close that gap by connecting schools and libraries everywhere – from my hometown of Malden to Boston to Pittsfield to Swampscott – ensuring that students in every community had the tools they needed to learn, compete and succeed,” Markey said.

And now, Markey is running for re-election. He is facing Rep. Seth Moulton, who serves in Congress for Massachusetts’ 6th Congressional District. Polling from the fall shows Markey with a sizable lead. A Suffolk University/Boston Globe poll conducted November 25 found Markey ahead of Moulton, 45% to 22%, among Massachusetts registered voters. An earlier UMass Amherst/WCVB poll from November showed 51% support for Markey compared to 28% for Moulton.

While Markey would be among the oldest members of Congress if re-elected, he told the Swampscott Tides “this is the most energized I’ve ever been.” He said he is “laser-focused” on the fight as well.

“I have decades of experience in Washington — experience that Massachusetts can count on at a critical moment for our country,” Markey said. “Throughout my career, I’ve taken on tough fights and delivered results — from leading the push for climate action long before it was popular to passing major clean energy investments that are now creating good-paying jobs here in Massachusetts. I’ve also seen moments when our democracy was tested, and I know what it takes to stand up to presidents who abuse their power and defend the Constitution. Right now we need leaders who are ready to fight back against Donald Trump’s extremism  and who also know how to rebuild and move our country forward when this moment passes, which is exactly what I am prepared to do.”

Markey was endorsed by Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) as well as Boston Mayor Michelle Wu. The Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the Massachusetts Teachers Association (MTA), Boston-area hospitality and food service workers union, Unite Here Local 26, as well as the North Atlantic States Regional Council of Carpenters (NASRCC) also announced their endorsement of Markey.

Markey has focused a lot of his efforts on climate change and energy policy, chairing the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming from 2007 to 2011. He is the Senate author of the Green New Deal. Markey also was a member of the Senate Democrats’ Special Committee on the Climate Crisis.

“When President Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act into law, it included historic investments in climate action and clean energy, priorities I had been fighting for years to make a reality. I never gave up on that fight,” Markey said. “I kept pushing, building support, and making the case that we had to act. And because we did, those investments are now creating good-paying union jobs and lowering energy costs for families here in Massachusetts. Victories like that remind you why persistence matters, because if you keep fighting for what you believe in, you can deliver real progress for the next generation and for our country.”

Advocacy group Progressive Mass endorsed Markey last week, noting the senator’s “commitment to progressive values” and how he has “been a stalwart champion for workers’ rights, immigrants’  rights, LGBTQ rights, bold climate action and so much more.”

But Markey said that “Donald Trump’s reckless tariffs being imposed on the American people” is the issue that currently deserves more public attention.

“From March to November of 2025 alone, small businesses in Massachusetts paid $673 million in tariff taxes. Let’s be clear about what those are: they are Trump taxes. And they are turning Main Street into Pain Street,” Markey said. “For families, that means higher grocery bills. Higher electricity costs. Higher health care costs. And pink slips for workers as businesses struggle to absorb those rising expenses. These tariffs are also driving up the cost of housing and energy across the Commonwealth — making it even harder for families already feeling squeezed to get ahead.”

Last month, Markey introduced the Tariff Refund Act of 2026 to ensure “every single cent that was illegally collected from small businesses, consumers, and families in Massachusetts and across our country is returned to them.”

Markey recalled former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Massachusetts politician  Tip O’Neill, who famously said that all politics is local, meaning what Markey and his peers do in Washington “show up in the daily lives of families in Massachusetts.”

“When public education funding is cut in Washington, our public schools across Massachusetts feel the impact. When MAGA Republicans gut ACA health care subsidies, families make the difficult decision whether to keep paying more for their same insurance or forgo it altogether,” Markey said. “That’s why my job is to make sure the voices of Massachusetts are heard in every national debate. When I vote in the Senate, I’m thinking about the teachers in our classrooms, the nurses in our hospitals, the small business owners on our Main Streets, and the families trying to make ends meet in every corner of our Commonwealth.”

He called the current political climate one of the most difficult moments of his career.

“Every day Donald Trump occupies the Oval Office, he pushes our country closer to a constitutional crisis — attacking the rule of law, undermining democratic institutions, and targeting the rights of Americans. We’ve seen aggressive federal actions that raise serious questions about accountability and the protection of civil liberties,” Markey said. “That’s why my responsibility in the Senate is clear: to push back against authoritarian attacks, protect the Constitution, and defend the civil rights and freedoms that define our country.”

Markey noted that “we must confront” President Donald Trump now but at the same time “think about what the future looks like after he leaves in 2028.”

“I learned at a young age to stand up for yourself, stand up for your neighbors, and stand up against bullies,” Markey said. “Donald Trump and his Republican allies think they’re going to Make America Great Again by Making America Hate Again. They are demonizing women and targeting Black, Brown, and LGBTQ+ communities. That is why Donald Trump brings out the Malden in me every single morning. I will always fight for Massachusetts.”

He told the Swampscott Tides that people who are not feeling hopeful with the political climate should organize, use their voices, show up to protests and speak up at town halls and community meetings. 

“When people march in the streets, as we have seen at the No Kings demonstrations across Massachusetts and the country, they are sending a clear message to those in power: listen to the people,” Markey said. “I believe that energy — that activism — is building toward a powerful Democratic wave in November, one that will finally put a real check on Donald Trump.”

But Markey also said that he holds the belief that if “there’s a chance to work with someone across the aisle to improve people’s lives, you take it.”

Markey mentioned working with Republican Sen. Susan Collins, of Maine, on legislation to strengthen the country’s strategy to combat Alzheimer’s disease through research and support. He also has partnered with Sen. Josh Hawley, of Missouri, to update children’s online privacy protections “because keeping kids safe from exploitation by Big Tech should not be a partisan issue.”

“At the end of the day, the people of Massachusetts sent me to Washington to fight for them. Sometimes that means standing up and pushing back against authoritarian overreach and MAGA extremism, and I will always defend our rights, our democracy, and the values we hold dear,” Markey said. “But it also means rolling up my sleeves and delivering results.”