MALDEN ELECTION NOTEBOOK: Keep the finish line on ice, Ed Markey is running again in 2026

Not long after announcing he will seek reelection, Malden U.S. Senator came home to vote

By Steve Freker

It has to have been a long time since Ed Markey walked into a hall full of people and was not the most recognizable face in the crowd. This was certainly the case when the U.S. Senator and lifelong Malden resident strode briskly into the Irish American Hall with his wife, Dr. Susan Blumenthal, around midday Tuesday. The local couple intended to mark their ballots in one of the most historic Presidential Elections in American history, alongside many of their Edgeworth neighbors and friends. Right away, when Markey and his wife were barely through the doorway, dozens in the large hall had realized they were in the presence of Washington, D.C.-style political royalty.

One step into the hall, Senator Markey confirmed it when he exclaimed, a few notches louder than simple colloquial conversation, “Democracy is on the line!” No matter what side of the fray someone may have been on Election Day, it was a true ear-catcher.

Senator Markey’s declaration of the national mantra of Democrats, on this election day, 2024, may as well have been a distant relative of a much more well-known exhortation. Remember that “oldie but goodie”? It was delivered by a gentleman named Revere while galloping through the streets of greater Boston in the late 1700s.

The Senator owns a lot of rooms he chooses to enter around the nation, and so he did on Tuesday when he came to Malden to cast his ballot. He and his wife did the very same, turned in their completed ballots and then the Senator, in a nod to his penchant for keeping up with the times, was assisted by Dr. Blumenthal in creating a quick Instagram-bound video, where he acknowledged he had just voted and encouraged all of his followers and others beyond to do the same.

Who knew? Ed Markey, 78, on the cutting edge of social media in the midst of one of the biggest “turn up the volume” Presidential tiffs of all time.

Then it was time to greet a lot of those he has known for decades as a lifelong Maldonian, some of them who grew up a street or two away from his Townsend Street homestead, all “Edgeworthians.” Included were John “Trixie” Trischitta – who happened to an official poll worker that day, Malden Police Ptl, George MacKay, who lives one street away from the Senator, Malden Recreation Coordinator Joe Levine, a veritable next-door neighbor off of Charles Street, and the Powers Brothers, Kevin and John, longtime Malden residents and members of one of the most well-known Edgeworth families of them all. Their other two brothers – Mike Powers is one of the best H.S. hockey players ever to lace them up in this city – and the late Brian “Boog” Powers one of all-time Malden slow-pitch softball greats.

In making his rounds that day, one of his constituents mentioned they had heard the news that the Senator intended to seek a new six-year term in the 2026 election cycle. “Yes, I’m ready to continue the fight,” was his response, and then, in an aside to those who zero in on the age factor – “It’s not your age, it’s the age of your ideas.”

Senator Markey also found time to stop by the Malden High Baseball snack table in the I-A lobby, where he and wife made a generous donation, and he obliged to give the three players the thrill of their young lives, a photo taken with a sitting U.S. Senator – from their own hometown, no less.

The Senator even excused himself to go out and retrieve his very own Malden High Baseball hat, which he received as a gift while attending a summer baseball game earlier this year at Bob Rotondi Field in Malden. “I leave it in my car, because I wear it so often,” he told the players. Then he was gone, departed for another destination, perhaps to another city in support of some other Democrat who could use his help.

But that’s Ed Markey – another place to go, still another room to make his own, as he has been doing since he first made waves at the State House in Boston close to 50 years ago.

“This is the most energized I have ever been,” he told WCVB-TV “On the Record” show co-hosts Ed Harding and Janet Wu Sunday. The Senator gives no one any other impression, ever.

Let the next campaign begin.

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Markey’s age not uncommon for Massachusetts pols

As they say, age is just a number. For Massachusetts politicians at several levels of government, they have very much taken this adage to heart.

Age has crept to the forefront of national politics as well, seeing as how incumbent President Joe Biden, the oldest sitting President in history at 81, was convinced into going from candidate for reelection to lame duck in July after a faulty debate with now President-elect Donald Trump.

How about Trump, then, who, at 78, will be the second-oldest President – at age 82 – to live in the White House should he finish his four-year term in 2028? President-elect Trump, who defeated Vice President Kamala Harris in historic fashion Tuesday, will turn 79 on his next birthday, June 14, 2025.

Guess who was born less than a month later, on July 11, 1946? U.S. Senator Ed Markey! He is 28 days younger than Trump. Senator Markey will also turn 79 in 2025 and he just this week doubled down on his announcement to seek another six-year term in the 2026 election, when he will be 80 years old, He would be 86 at the conclusion of that six-year term.

Even still, if Senator Markey did complete that tenure, he would not even make the Top 10 of oldest-serving U.S. Senators all-time. The oldest-ever was the late Strom Thurmond, who served until he was 100 years old. He passed away in June 2003 at the age of 100.

Looking at the landscape of politicians in Massachusetts, Markey’s age is common among them, not markedly older. Regardless, according to Markey, “It’s not your age, it’s the age of your ideas. And I’ve always been the youngest guy in the room,” Markey said on a local televised talk show on Sunday.

Markey’s fellow Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren was reelected to a third term on Tuesday and is 75 years old. So is Mass. U.S. Rep. Richard Neal.

How about another local pol who was reelected on Tuesday, Medford-Malden U.S. Rep. Paul Donato? Reelected to a 13th term on Tuesday, Donato turned 83 years young on October 27, having been born in 1941.

Senate Majority Leader Cynthia Creem is 82, and Donato’s Medford colleague, Sen. Pat Jehlen (D-Medford, Somerville) is 81. Mass. House Speaker Ron Mariano turned 78 on Halloween and Senate President Karen Spilka is 71. Secretary of State William Galvin has been at the helm for 30 years and is now 74.

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One of his candidates of choice won on Tuesday, though not the one for whom he was sign-holding

If you were not paying close attention, you may have thought Dave Rimmer was out there the whole time the polling place was open on Election Day, Tuesday. If you looked around the city of Malden you may have thought he was the only one holding a sign – for any candidate – considering the dearth of signs, anywhere. But there he was, holding a large sign across from the Irish American Club, supporting Republican John Deaton.

When asked on Tuesday, Rimmer did not take credit for staying out with the sign all day. “No, I took some breaks, but it was a lot of time overall,” the 1957 Malden Catholic High School graduate said. He was out there when the polls opened at 7:00 a.m., left for a break around 10:30 a.m., returned around noon until 3:00, another break and then from 4:15 until the polls closed.

Though Deaton was defeated and Warren reelected, 59%-40%, Deaton did receive over 1.1 million votes statewide. “I liked what [Deaton] stood up for, he had a lot of the same positions as [President-elect] Trump,” Rimmer said. The longtime Maldonian also backed Trump for President, so one of his wishes was granted Tuesday.

Rimmer did not go right into college after graduating from Malden Catholic, but instead began working for Stop & Shop at Wellington Circle in Medford and attending night business classes at Northeastern University. His family wanted him to pursue a career in law enforcement, but he chose instead to go into the insurance business, where he worked from 1963 until his retirement in 2004 at age 65. He just celebrated his 85th birthday.

Though his candidate did not win Tuesday, Rimmer said he intends on staying active in politics and will hold a sign in the next election as well.

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Malden High students learn “Civics in Real Time” as poll workers

One of them has been involved in politics – sort of – for a couple of years now. The other is a novice, but an eager one. Both of them – Henry Fan and Shubham Paudel – both members of Malden High School’s junior class of 2026, were hard at work in a “Civics in Real Time” job on Election Day as poll workers at the Beebe K-8 School.

Fan got his feet wet, so to speak, when he had a role in Mayor Gary Christenson’s “State of the City” video in 2023. He then started working on a year-round basis as part of the Mayor’s Youth Employment Program in various capacities. This election season finds Fan working at the polling place as a check-in monitor, along with Paudel. Paudel is also available to translate in Nepali if the need arises.

“We enjoy providing assistance to voters,” Fan said, “and being part of the process.”

“We are learning a lot,” Paudel agreed. “I did not know a lot about elections before today.”