Filmmaker Ken Burns endorses Ed Markey

Politics

The award-winning documentary filmmaker praised Markey as a “battle-tested fighter for a better future.”

Documentary filmmaker Ken Burns endorsed Sen. Ed Markey Tuesday, effusively praising Markey as a veteran leader who is able to stand up against Republicans and successfully advocate for liberal causes.

Markey is running for reelection next year, seeking another six-year term. To achieve that goal he will have to fend off a primary challenge from Rep. Seth Moulton, the North Shore Democrat who is arguing that the party must do away with the status quo and embrace a new generation of leaders.

The primary winner will likely face Republican John Deaton, the cryptocurrency advocate and personal injury lawyer who failed to unseat Sen. Elizabeth Warren last year.

Markey, 79, is leading Moulton in early polling, but could be susceptible to attacks based on his age and his progressive agenda. Moulton, 47, tends to hew more center-left ideologically.

In his endorsement Burns drew on analogies comparing Markey to the American colonists who won their independence from Britain.

“Ed Markey is that bold, visionary, courageous, effective leader for Massachusetts and America, a battle-tested fighter for a better future, a champion for universal health care, climate action, for reproductive freedom, for education, for innovation and nuclear non-proliferation,” Burns said in a video published online. “He is our firewall in the Senate, standing up for social and economic justice, scientific progress, protecting civil rights and delivering real change that improves real lives.”

Burns was born in Brooklyn but attended Hampshire College in Amherst. He now lives in Walpole, New Hampshire. Burns has made numerous award-winning historical documentaries over the years, from “The Civil War” in 1990 to “Baseball” in 1994 and “The Vietnam War” in 2017. His latest, “The American Revolution,” premiered last month on PBS. The six-part, 12-hour documentary has been a decade in the making.

Markey thanked Burns in a statement.

“Ken Burns has spent his life chronicling America’s story. Its struggles, its triumphs, and its ongoing fight to build a more perfect union. I am deeply honored to receive Ken’s endorsement. Ken understands the promise of our democracy. His warning about the stakes we face is a call to action for all of us. I am grateful for his endorsement, and I will continue fighting every single day to protect our hard-fought freedoms, stand up to MAGA extremism, and deliver real results that make life better for working families,” Markey said.

Watch the endorsement video below: