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Sen. Edward “Ed” Markey

Senator for Massachusetts

pronounced ED-werd // MAHR-kee

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Markey is the junior senator from Massachusetts and is a Democrat. He has served since Jul 16, 2013. Markey is next up for reelection in 2026 and serves until Jan 3, 2027. He is 76 years old.

He was previously the representative for Massachusetts’s 5th congressional district as a Democrat from 2013 to 2013; and the representative for Massachusetts’s 7th congressional district as a Democrat from 1975 to 2012.

Photo of Sen. Edward “Ed” Markey [D-MA]

Analysis

Ideology–Leadership Chart

Markey is shown as a purple triangle ▲ in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot is a member of the Senate positioned according to our ideology score (left to right) and our leadership score (leaders are toward the top).

The chart is based on the bills Markey has sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 3, 2019 to Jan 24, 2023. See full analysis methodology.

Enacted Legislation

Markey was the primary sponsor of 34 bills that were enacted. The most recent include:

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Does 34 not sound like a lot? Very few bills are ever enacted — most legislators sponsor only a handful that are signed into law. But there are other legislative activities that we don’t track that are also important, including offering amendments, committee work and oversight of the other branches, and constituent services.

We consider a bill enacted if one of the following is true: a) it is enacted itself, b) it has a companion bill in the other chamber (as identified by Congress) which was enacted, or c) if at least about half of its provisions were incorporated into bills that were enacted (as determined by an automated text analysis, applicable beginning with bills in the 110th Congress).

Bills Sponsored

Issue Areas

Markey sponsors bills primarily in these issue areas:

International Affairs (23%) Transportation and Public Works (20%) Health (15%) Science, Technology, Communications (11%) Crime and Law Enforcement (9%) Environmental Protection (9%) Energy (8%) Public Lands and Natural Resources (6%)

Recently Introduced Bills

Markey recently introduced the following legislation:

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Most legislation has no activity after being introduced.

Voting Record

Key Votes

Markey voted Not Voting

Markey voted Aye

Passed 285/144 on Jan 23, 2013.

Markey voted No

Markey voted No

Passed 304/117 on Jun 23, 2011.
The Leahy–Smith America Invents Act (AIA) is a United States federal statute that was passed by Congress and was signed into law by President Barack …

Markey voted No

Passed 386/41 on Jul 8, 2009.
The Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010 (H.R. 2965, S. 4023) is a landmark United States federal statute enacted in December 2010 that …

Missed Votes

From Jul 2013 to Dec 2022, Markey missed 113 of 3,254 roll call votes, which is 3.5%. This is worse than the median of 2.4% among the lifetime records of senators currently serving. The chart below reports missed votes over time.

We don’t track why legislators miss votes, but it’s often due to medical absenses, major life events, and running for higher office.

Show the numbers...

Primary Sources

The information on this page is originally sourced from a variety of materials, including: