Sen. Edward “Ed” Markey
Senator for Massachusetts
pronounced ED-werd // MAHR-kee
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 77 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.
Analysis
Legislative Metrics
Read our 2022 Report Card for Markey.
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 Apr 20, 2024. See full analysis methodology.
Committee Membership
Edward “Ed” Markey sits on the following committees:
- Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works
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Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
- Primary Health and Retirement Security subcommittee Chair
Employment and Workplace Safety subcommittees - Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation
- Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship
Enacted Legislation
Markey was the primary sponsor of 34 bills that were enacted. The most recent include:
- S. 1404 (117th): Ghost Army Congressional Gold Medal Act
- S. 475 (117th): Juneteenth National Independence Day Act
- S. 1418 (117th): Bioeconomy Research and Development Act of 2021
- S. 1408 (117th): A bill to posthumously award the Congressional Gold Medal, collectively, to Glen Doherty, Tyrone Woods, J. Christopher Stevens, and Sean Smith, in recognition of their contributions to …
- S. 811 (117th): Taiwan Fellowship Act
- S. 684 (117th): Connecting America’s Active Transportation System Act
- S. 3527 (116th): A bill to waive required minimum distribution rules for retirement plans in 2020.
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 (21%) Transportation and Public Works (21%) Health (18%) Crime and Law Enforcement (10%) Environmental Protection (8%) Energy (8%) Science, Technology, Communications (8%) Public Lands and Natural Resources (5%)
Recently Introduced Bills
Markey recently introduced the following legislation:
- S.Res. 648: A resolution proclaiming a Declaration of Environmental Rights for Incarcerated People.
- S.Res. 644: A resolution expressing support for the designation of April 1, 2024, through April …
- S. 4117: Climate Change Education Act
- S.Res. 593: A resolution expressing support for the continued value of arms control agreements and …
- S. 3855: A bill to interconnect the Electric Reliability Council of Texas to its neighbors, …
- S. 3732: A bill to require the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to carry …
- S.Res. 540: A resolution requesting information on Azerbaijan’s human rights practices pursuant to section 502B(c) …
View All » | View Cosponsors »
Most legislation has no activity after being introduced.
Voting Record
Key Votes
Missed Votes
From Jul 2013 to Apr 2024, Markey missed 126 of 3,749 roll call votes, which is 3.4%. This is worse than the median of 2.8% 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.
Primary Sources
The information on this page is originally sourced from a variety of materials, including:
- unitedstates/congress-legislators, a community project gathering congressional information
- The House and Senate websites, for committee membership and voting records
- United States Congressional Roll Call Voting Records, 1789-1990 by Howard L. Rosenthal and Keith T. Poole.
- Martis’s “The Historical Atlas of Political Parties in the United States Congress”, via Keith Poole’s roll call votes data set, for political party affiliation for Members of Congress from 1789 through about year 2000
- GPO Member Guide for the photo
- GovInfo.gov, for sponsored bills