A Democratic incumbent got crushed in Conn., showing how New England's politics are changing

WBUR podcast, Boston. This is up next. I'm Sharon Brody. Democratic voters in Connecticut gave a longtime congressman the boot this week, challenger Luke Brunin trounced incumbent John Larson by 20 points in the state's first district primary. Politico reporter Lisa Kaczynski says the result could be a warning sign for other New England incumbents, including a certain Massachusetts senator. Lisa, good morning. Hi. So this is a district made up of the greater Hartford area. John Larson has represented it for the past 28 years, but that era is ending. What happened? Look, what we saw is a challenge predicated on generational change. It's just kind of the latest example of this kind of anti-incumbent, you know, kind of fervor, fever, whichever word you'd like to use, that's, you know, that really is just kind of taken hold among the Democratic base. Well, here's Luke Brunin talking about the need for generational change when he delivered his victory speech on Tuesday. If we are going to fix this mess that we're in, we need to build a Democratic Party that's bringing a whole new energy to this fight. Now, the obvious Massachusetts parallel is the Senate primary race between 80-year-old Ed Markey and his 47-year-old challenger, Congressman Seth Moulton. What similarities or differences do you see between the two races? There's a few of both similarities and differences. So, yes, this is another generational change fight. This is kind of... The second straight one that Senator Ed Markey has faced, we all remember, of course, the Ed Markey Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Challenge from 2020. But as we just heard from Luke Bron, you know, the Democratic base wants fighters. They're very dissatisfied with their leadership in Washington. They want more spine, more backbone against the Trump administration. And it's that kind of anger and angst that's led to a lot of these kind of upsets and defeats this year. But there are differences kind of in this race to some of the other anti-establishment and generational change matchups that we've seen across the country this year where usually it's a younger progressive, you know, somewhat insurgent or outsider person challenging, you know.

10, 20, 30 year incumbent. In this race, Senator Ed Markey is the progressive. He's the one backed by Bernie Sanders, by Elizabeth Warren. And Seth Moulton is a sitting representative. You know, he's not a newcomer or an insurgent. And he's historically been more moderate. He's embraced some more progressive policies in this fight. But he has more, you know, he's historically been more to the right of Ed Markey. So there's definitely some things in this race that. are both similar to what we've seen across the country, but also upend some of the rules of the road, so to speak, of how these challenges have gone elsewhere. Given that, are there any specific one overriding lesson type things that either Senator Ed Markey or Seth Moulton should take from what happened in Connecticut? This is a different matchup than what Senator Ed Markey faced six years ago against Joe Robert F. Kennedy Jr.. The Democratic base is in a very different place right now. The outcome could still be the same. Senator Ed Markey is up in polls. The race has tightened. You know, over the past few months, as we've seen in public polling, I'm sure there will be more polling to come. But the base is in a very different place. And even though Ed Markey has done a good job of kind of positioning himself at the vanguard of the current progressive movement, there is just a lot of, I hate to use the words, anger and angst again, but it really is true. There's a lot of concern among the Democratic base. Just about wanting new leadership within their party, whether that is on policy, whether that is on age and just wanting stronger fighters against Donald Trump. And whether Ed Markey is or isn't a strong enough fighter, you know, we'll see what Democrats think about that this time. And if it is potentially any different than the situation he was in in 2020. Politico's Lisa Kaczynski, thank you. Thanks so much for having me.