BOSTON — Mayor Michelle Wu has endorsed U.S. Senator Ed Markey for a third Senate term — throwing her weight behind a 79-year-old career politician who has been in Congress since 1976, when Gerald Ford was in the White House, disco was king, and Wu herself was nine years from being born.

If Markey wins, he'll be 86 when the term ends in January 2033. Wu, born in 1985, called him a "bold leader" delivering "results" for "Boston families."

Delivering results. For Boston families. In a city where a one-bedroom apartment costs $2,930 a month. Sure.

The Globe treatment

The announcement was breathlessly covered by the Boston Globe — because it must be a day that ends in Y if the Globe is publishing another glowing Wu piece. Of course, the Globe has its own reasons to keep Wu looking good. The mayor's more than $200 million White Stadium project — a taxpayer-funded gut job of a public park in Franklin Park that the surrounding community fought tooth and nail against — is being built for a private soccer team directly tied to Boston Globe owner John Henry's wife, Linda Pizzuti Henry. The Globe covering Wu like a fan page while its owner's family profits from her signature vanity project is the kind of conflict of interest that would make journalism professors weep into their textbooks.

The progressive machine circles the wagons

This endorsement is a transaction. Markey backed both of Wu's mayoral campaigns. Now she's returning the favor — and the entire Massachusetts progressive establishment is closing ranks behind him.

AG Andrea Campbell? Endorsed. Elizabeth Warren? Endorsed — called him a "progressive champion." House Whip Katherine Clark? Endorsed. The full lineup. The whole squad. Every major progressive in the state, locking arms behind a man who has been collecting a government paycheck since the year the Apple I went on sale.

Markey returned the love: "Mayor Michelle Wu is one of the boldest and most visionary leaders in America today."

The boldest and most visionary. They really do say this stuff with straight faces.

The primary

Seth Moulton, 47, is challenging Markey on generational change — though after a decade in Congress himself, the "outsider" label is a stretch. Former Marine, four tours in Iraq, VoteVets backing, and not much else. Whether that cracks the progressive establishment's iron wall in a deep-blue primary is anyone's guess.

The man they should actually be worried about

On the Republican side, John Deaton has an inside lane to the GOP nomination. The crypto attorney and Marine veteran pulled 1.4 million votes against Elizabeth Warren in 2024 — 40% in one of the bluest states in America, and more votes than Donald Trump himself got in Massachusetts that same night.

Let that sink in. A Republican Senate candidate outperformed the Republican president by over 100,000 votes. And nobody on the progressive side seems to be asking what that means for this race.

The bottom line

Ed Markey entered Congress when Gerald Ford was still in the White House. He has now served under nine presidents. Wu's endorsement suggests the progressive establishment is betting that a tenth is worth the investment.

Massachusetts voters may have other ideas.