Is 80 too old for the Senate? Here’s what 80-year-olds (and almost 80-year-olds) think.

Politics admin July 8, 2026 0 Comments

Is 80 too old for the Senate? Here’s what 80-year-olds (and almost 80-year-olds) think.

At 86, Alan Elliott speaks frankly about old age. While he’s voted for Senator Ed Markey before, Elliot said that come the September primary, he’s not prepared to offer the soon-to-be 80-year-old incumbent “any long-term warranties.”

“I like Markey, but I don’t know that he’s going to last through his time,” said Elliott, an unenrolled voter. “I don’t know that I would plan on anything for the next six years.”

Elliott is exactly the kind of voter Representative Seth Moulton is trying to win over as he vies to unseat Markey in their Democratic primary. The 47-year-old congressman has staked his campaign on the idea that after nearly five decades in Washington — and turning 80 on Saturday — Markey is simply too old for another six-year Senate term. The argument is likely to surface again when the candidates face off in theirfirst primary debate Wednesdayin Chicopee.

For many older Massachusetts voters, the age question isn’t abstract. As they weigh their choice in the state’s marquee Democratic election, some said they are judging the senator through the lens of their own experience growing older, balancing questions about stamina and longevity against Markey’s experience and his repeated declarationsthat he’s never been more energized than he is now.

The Globe interviewed 15 Massachusetts voters who are 80 or will be in their 80s over the next six years. Nearly all expressed reservations about sending someone close to their age to Washington until 2033, thoughsome said they’re still leaning toward supporting Markey over Moulton.

Among both types of voters, severalcited Markey’sprogressive posture —pointing to his stance on climate change or his criticism of President Trump — or the perceptionhe is hardly showing his age. Others said they simply like him.

“The only thing that turns me off about him is his age,” said Brenda Castseel, 75, a Democrat from Raynham. “I like where Markey is going. I just wish he was younger.”

For Dennis Yeaw of Shrewsbury, it’s not Markey’s age right now that gives him pause so much as his age by the timehis next term would end.

“I don’t think 80 is too old necessarily, but it’s a six-year term,” said Yeaw, 83, an unenrolled voter who still practices law. “That means he’ll be 86 at the end of his term, and I think that’s a little much of a stretch.”

That’s enough to give Yeaw pause, although he’s also not sold on Moulton, a six-term congressman.

“If all Moulton is running on is the age difference, then that doesn’t cut it for me,” said Yeaw, who wants to know what the candidates “can do better for the state that’s not being done now.”

The length of the term is also on Anne Layton’s mind.

“I don’t think I could vote for an 80-year-old for a six-year term,” said Layton, 81, a Democrat from Mattapoisett. “It might have been different if it was for a two-year term, because [Markey is] still quite active.

“At my age,” she added, “I would not want to be running for anything.”

Arguments for generational change have perpetually hovered over the race,as they did duringMarkey’s last challenge in 2020. He is the state’s longest-serving member on Capitol Hill, firstwinning a seat inthe Housein 1976. But he is also far from the oldest member of Congress. (There are two dozen members who are 80 or older.)

He is also not alone in weathering attacks on his longevity. Moulton has similarly targeted Chuck Schumer, the Senate’s 75-year-old minority leader who has repeatedly served as a proxy forDemocratic challengers calling for sweeping out the party’s old guard.

Markey’s campaign declined to comment for this story.

The Malden Democrat’s rise through the party’s progressive ranks has been fueled, at times, by a surge in support from younger voters.His 2020 victory over former representative Joe Kennedy III was made possible by the throng of young, online supporters who helped reshape his public image. He’s both embraced his old-school bona fides — he’s a proud member of Congress’s unofficial flip phone caucus — and repeatedly emphasized it’s not a person’s age but “the age of your ideas” that matter.

Still, for 79-year-old Janet Tierney, “the age thing” is a “a real dilemma.” The unenrolled voter from West Springfield acknowledged that seniority on Capitol Hill also comes with some perks — leadership positions on committees, for example — so “it’s a bit of a trade-off.”

“The way our system is set up, sometimes these politicians have to be in office for years and years to actually get into positions of power,” she said.

For some, Markey’s age is the main reason they plan to support Moulton in September.

At 83, “I’m not looking to discriminate against someone just because of age, but I do feel that there’s a point in time in one’s life that I can speak to now in terms of effectiveness,” said Robert Katz, an unenrolled voter fromFramingham. “Unfortunately there’s a physiological reality. And there are very few people that are incredibly active, which is what politics requires.”

Markey “seems to be very stable right now,” added Paul Roy, 84, an unenrolled voter from Andover. “But I think we should think in terms of the future. We should start developing new people and new talent to represent us.”

Voters have expressed varying opinions on how much age will weigh on their primary ballot. In a Suffolk University/Boston Globe poll of likely Democratic primary voters in April, many said a candidate’s age matters little, if at all, in their vote, a trend that largely held in a June Suffolk/Globe poll of general election voters. About 41 percent surveyed in June said age was a small factor, while 33 percent said it didn’t matter.

For 81-year-old Virginia Walsh of Worcester, her own experience as she agesis pushing her toward backing Moulton.

“Things I could do 10 years ago take me a lot longer to get done[now] — even just having people for dinner,” said Walsh, a Democrat.

Linda Spencer, an unenrolled voter from Littleton, expressed a similar hesitation tobacking someone her age.

“At this age, we can suddenly get sick at any time or just run out of having a lot of energy, so I think maybe 80 is too old,” Spencer, 81, said. Markey “should go enjoy himself.”

For others, Markey is among the exceptions to some of the commonly held beliefs about aging. Howard Gorin, 80, said one of his friends recently celebrated her 95th birthday, and is “going fairly strong.” Remarkably, he said, her 97-year-old brother still plays tennis.

“Some people have got it. Some people have lost it. Some people never had it,” said Gorin, of Waltham. As for Markey, “He’s got most of his marbles.”

More than age, “you have to look at the person and look at what they have accomplished, and feel confident in their capacity to continue to make good decisions,” said George Bauman, a 91-year-old Democrat. “I think that Senator Markey has done a very capable and admirable job representing Massachusetts.”

Stefan Sage, 76, a Democrat from Charlton, said he is more focused on where the candidates “stand on policies.” Markey’s age, he said, isjust a number.

“In about four years, I was going to run,” he joked.