Donate now to keep Ed Markey in the Senate!

Massachusetts Sen. Ed Markey has for years been a stalwart ally of Daily Kos and the progressive movement in a way few others have been. That’s why we’re proud to endorse this singular public servant in the Democratic primary on Sept. 1.

Daily Kos seldom gets involved in primaries, but we’re engaging this time because the Senate would be a much poorer place without Markey in it. His unflagging dedication as a force for progress is why we need his help getting our country back on track. On the issues, Markey can't be beat. For experience, Markey can't be beat.

That includes on an existential issue for Daily Kos: net neutrality. Last year, Markey led 46 Senate Democrats in introducing the "Save the Internet Act," which would reverse the Trump FCC's decision to repeal net neutrality protections and make the FCC's 2015 Open Internet Order law. He will see it through with a new administration and a new Senate.

We've counted on Ed Markey for his leadership on another existential issue as well—an existential issue for all of us: climate change. In 2009, Markey sponsored the landmark American Clean Energy and Security Act, still the only comprehensive climate legislation ever to pass a chamber of Congress. In 2019, Markey co-authored the Green New Deal with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, sponsoring the bill in the Senate.

Markey isn't a newcomer to the fight for social justice, either. After the murders of Breonna Taylor, Ahmad Arbery, and George Floyd, among the many other Black people who have been murdered at the hands of law enforcement, he joined with Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders to introduce legislation to end qualified immunity for police officers.

Markey’s commitment to justice runs long and deep. In 1996, Markey was one of just 67 members of the House to courageously vote against the discriminatory Defense of Marriage Act, which hatefully sought to define marriage as “one man, one woman” and was supported by a majority of Democrats in Congress at the time. Since, he's continued working for equality, authoring legislation such as the GLOBE Act to promote LGBTQ rights around the world.

It doesn’t end there. Markey backs Medicare for All and was an original cosponsor of Sen. Bernie Sanders’ legislation in 2017. He took early and aggressive action to protect the health and safety of Americans in the coronavirus crisis: Markey was the first in the Senate to call on Donald Trump to designate this crisis as a National Emergency and to invoke the Defense Production Act to gear up domestic production of personal protection equipment for frontline health care and essential workers.

We are facing unprecedented threats for the nation's future, for the rule of law. We don't just have the pandemic and the devastation it’s leaving in its wake. We don't just have a rapidly deteriorating climate. We don’t just have skyrocketing economic inequality. We don't just have the absolute worst president in the history of presidents blundering his way through these multiple crises. We've got the most corrupt and dangerous president ever, who has been allowed by his Republican abettors in Congress to systematically dismantle every part of the government he can get his grubby, stubby fingers on.

Getting rid of Trump is just the first step to our salvation as a republic. Rebuilding everything he has destroyed is going to take a Senate committed to and experienced in making government work again. Ed Markey has proved himself. He's not there to grandstand. He's not there for the title. He's there to do the work, and he deserves to keep his job.