The dean of Massachusetts’s Capitol Hill delegation, joined by two dozen state, regional, and local leaders from across Western Massachusetts, has endorsed U.S. Sen. Ed Markey’s 2026 reelection bid.
The endorsement from U.S. Rep. Richard Neal, D-1st District, comes as Markey continues to sew up support from key Democratic leaders as he looks to head off any additional primary challengers.
Other top Western Massachusetts pols, including Springfield Mayor Dominic Sarno, also have jumped on the Markey train, according to a list shared exclusively with MassLive by Markey’s reelection campaign.
In a statement, Neal said Markey has a “tremendous record securing victories for Western Massachusetts, and we need him back in the United States Senate.”
Markey, 78, of Malden, has faced questions about his age: He’ll be 80 on Election Day, as some Democrats push for a generational change in Washington.
Alex Rikleen, 38, of Acton, is so far the only Democratic candidate to throw his hat in the ring for 2026 against Markey. He has never sought elected office before, according to his campaign’s website.
Neal, 76, is the ranking Democrat on the powerful, budget-writing House Ways and Means Committee. The two men served alongside each other in the House until Markey’s election to the Senate in 2013.
Neal, who was elected to the House in 1988, added that he was “proud to have worked with [Markey] to secure funding for West-East Rail, rural broadband, clean energy and other critical infrastructure investments that will support economic development for decades to come.”
“We can always count on Ed to fight for us, and I’m proud to endorse him for re-election,” Neal concluded.
Markey called his onetime House colleague “a powerful and proven champion … who always puts working families first.”
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Neal’s “leadership, his seniority, and his tenacity have resulted in the expansion of quality health care, critical investments in transportation and infrastructure, and the creation of good-paying jobs that make this region a vibrant place to live, work, and play,” Markey said.
The rest of the endorsement list shared with MassLive read like a Who’s Who of the region’s political upper crust.
In addition to Sarno, it includes Easthampton Mayor Nicole LaChapelle; North Adams Mayor Jennifer Macksey; Pittsfield Mayor Peter Marchetti and Chicopee Mayor John Vieau.
State Sens. Adam Gomez, D-Hampden, and Jake Oliveira, D-Hampden/Hampshire/Worcester, also are backing Markey, according to the list his campaign released.
Twelve members of the region’s delegation to the state House of Representatives are backing Markey. Ditto for long-serving Hampden County Sheriff Nick Cocchi and Governor’s Councilor Tara Jacobs.
The list is rounded out by influential former pols, including ex-state Sen. Eric Lesser and ex-Rep. Daniel Bosley, and others.
Last week, Markey rolled out a similar slate of endorsements on the other side of the state in Eastern Massachusetts’s 4th Congressional District, where Democratic U.S. Rep. Jake Auchincloss has been mentioned as a potential 2026 contender.
Auchincloss has insisted that he’s only interested in running for reelection to his Newton-based seat. But he also has not explicitly closed the door on a run.
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