Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) fended off primary challenger Rep. Joe Kennedy III (D-MA) in the Massachusetts elections on Tuesday night.
Markey, who co-sponsored the Green New Deal with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and had cultivated mass support among progressives in the race, described via Twitter his victory as an “undeniable mandate for change.”
“Tonight is more than just a celebration of an election, it is a celebration of a movement,” the senator tweeted. “Thank you to the thousands of grassroots supporters who organized around the principles that we believe in.”
Markey highlighted his commitment to progressive values, stating that “we made it clear that we’d rather lose fighting as hard as we could for what we believe in than in finding the middle ground.”
Kennedy told supporters that he had called Markey to congratulate the incumbent and “pledge my support to him and his campaign in the months ahead.”
“The senator is a good man,” he said. “You have never heard me say otherwise.”
The congressman also tweeted that he was “so proud of what we built together.”
“I’d do it with you all again in a heartbeat,” he wrote.
The primary marks the first defeat in Massachusetts for the long-reigning Kennedy dynasty.
