Senator Ed Markey, 80, defeated Representative Seth Moulton, 47, in Massachusetts's Democratic Senate primary on Tuesday, NBC News projected, taking about two-thirds of the vote with 69 percent of expected ballots reporting. [1][2] Moulton called Markey to concede, told supporters the incumbent had his "full support as our Democratic nominee," and said the party "must stand united this November to protect our democracy and defeat Donald Trump." [1] Markey, in turn, said he had offered Moulton "appreciation for a hard-fought campaign" and looked forward to talking about "how to build the better future for everyone that we are both committed to." [2]

NBC sold a generational-divide horse race. [2] Markey sold a testament. In a victory-night clip NBC aired, he called the win a measure of "the power of the progressive movement." [1] On the eve of the primary he had told a rally it was "all about not just sending a Democrat to the Senate — it's sending a progressive Democrat to the Senate from Massachusetts." [1] Tuesday night he told a crowd that "if Trump tries to steal the election this year, and he will, we're going to need to turn civic action into civil disobedience." [2] "Marshal your friends and neighbors. Take to the streets. Sit in. Protest. Withhold your labor. Do not agonize. Organize." [2] That is not a horse-race sentence. It is a midterm instruction.

Moulton had spent the race arguing that Markey was no longer effective and that the party needed generational change, a call that has already cost other longtime House Democrats their nominations this year. [1][2] Moulton and his allies spent $7.1 million on ads to Markey's $3.9 million, AdImpact figures carried by NBC showed. [1] Markey ran as an author of the Green New Deal and a backer of "Medicare for All," with televised help from Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. [1] After conceding, Moulton still said "challenging the establishment and calling for a new generation of leadership isn't easy, but it is necessary," and that "others will be inspired to buck the system when they're told to wait their turn." [2] The party that spent a year arguing it is too old just renominated an 80-year-old incumbent over a 47-year-old veteran. NBC's frame is the margin. The consequence is the age.

The same night, NBC projected Dan Koh the winner of the Democratic primary in the Sixth Congressional District, the House seat Moulton is leaving. [2] Koh, a former Labor Department chief of staff and the race's top fundraiser, ran ads with Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, promised to abolish ICE, and backed "Medicare for All." [2] He will be favored in November. [2] Stephen Lynch held the Eighth. [2] Michael Minogue won the Republican primary for governor and will face Governor Maura Healey. [2] Those results are the rest of the ballot. The Senate line is the one that tells the party what it still prefers: an 80-year-old progressive with Sanders and Warren on the ad, not a 47-year-old generational-change pitch that outspent him. NBC counted the votes. Markey named the movement and the street. The feeds will pick a lane. The nomination is already the fact.

-- ANNA WEBER, Berlin