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US Senate candidate Seth Moulton toured the Tri-County Regional Vocational Technical School in Franklin early Thursday afternoon. After suiting up with hard-hat and safety gear, Superintendent Karen Maguire took him on a tour of the construction site for the new school building, set to open in about one year. After the tour he took questions from students in the auditorium. Above, Moulton and an aide entering the school.
SHNS and Franklin Observer reporting
Faced with growing public scrutiny following his debate admission that he cannot tell which apps run on his phone or how AI functions, the campaign of Congressman and Senate candidate Seth Moulton issued a statement excoriating the state's 80-year-old incumbent, Senator Ed Markey, for being out of touch.
But the barbs are flying in both directions.
When U.S. Senatore Ed Markey
faced a primary challenge from U.S. Rep. Joseph Kennedy III in 2020, his
campaign got a boost from a network of young and very online
supporters, a base of social media cred and support that came to be
known as the Markeyverse. This time around, Markey seems to be looking
to revive that type of a network.
In a video on
Instagram labeled as being "In partnership with @edmarkey," 25-year-old
influencer Maria Comstock satirically speaks in favor of Moulton.
"Well I'm voting
for Seth Moulton because he's younger than Ed Markey, which logically
means he's more progressive. No, stop, don't look at his voting record,"
Comstock sarcastically says in the video. "Anyway, vote Moulton for a
change for better or worse. Maybe worse," Comstock says at the end of
the video, which has over 200,000 views.
In another post
that's labeled as a partnership with Markey, influencer Brett Carter
(@fossildaddy) urges viewers to vote for the incumbent and follow his
Instagram account.
Asked
by the State House News Service how much Markey's campaign has spent on social
media video ads, spokesperson Jonathan Ng said, “The campaign is proud
to work with content creators who share Senator Markey’s progressive
values and believe in the fights he is leading – lowering costs, taking
on corporate power, protecting our climate, and delivering for working
families in Massachusetts. We believe creators should be fairly
compensated for their work, and every paid partnership is clearly
identified so voters know when they are seeing sponsored campaign
content.”
Campaign finance
records show that between January 2025 and June 2026, Markey spent more
than $546,000 on political communication services from Aisle 518
Strategies, a digital and political consulting firm focused on
progressive candidates. He also paid $6,000 to Four Lions Media;
Comstock is one of the company's 36 followers on Instagram.
Moulton's
campaign did not respond to an inquiry about whether Moulton has paid,
or done partnerships with, influencers to promote his campaign and
platform.
