Yes, there are exceptions. But not nearly as likely in a statewide election such as the US Senate.
What? What’s with just a little bragging about being the bestest pig de-baller, along with the reassuring bromide that “we’re all going to die”. I mean… 
Glad to see this:
Aaaaaaaand now we do: US House races 2026
We happen to be vacationing in Portland ME today. We saw a wall poster advertising a town hall tonight for Graham Platner, Dem for Senate. My wife thought it would be fun. I thought there would be 6 people there, 2 of whom can’t even vote in Maine (us).
We drove to the site and there was a traffic jam trying to get there and all the parking lots were full. We decided to pass so that actual Maine voters could get in.
I took this as a good sign.
A recent poll shows Daniel Cameron still leading Andy Barr in the race for the G.O.P. '26 nomination for Kentucky senator, though the gap has narrowed to 8 points.
https://fox56news.com/news/kentucky/new-poll-released-for-kentucky-senate-gop-primary/
Barr has hauled in over 3X the campaign $$ as Cameron, so that could be the difference maker, apart from who makes the loudest slurping sounds in sucking up to Trump.
On the Democratic side, there now are an ex-Secret Service agent and an ex-C.I.A. agent running, along with a state representative.
The latest from the Pine Tree State:
I love Gov Mills for her “See you in court” defiance of Trump…but there’s a solution to the Democrats’ problem of age vs new generation, progressive vs moderates:
Primaries.
Wish we’d thought of that in the presidential race last year.
In Democratic Senate news, MA Congressman Seth Moulton is mounting a primary challenge to MA Senator Ed Markey. Moulton is 46; Markey is 79. Moulton is framing this as a call for younger leadership in the Dem party. It will also be something of a centrist vs. liberal battle, just like the last time this seat was challenged by Joe Kennedy. Markey wiped the floor with Kennedy then, but that was 5 years ago and I think it’s safe to say that the political landscape is different, with a lot of more liberal Democratic voters clamoring for a passing of the torch (in general, not specifically about Markey, who remains popular in MA).
Yup, more D voters will likely be looking at the age of the candidate in the coming primaries.
It has become a serious issue.
Joe Kennedy wasn’t really a centrist. He was mostly progressive in his (short) tenure but being a kennedy who had the blessing of party leadership and appeared to be in the process of being groomed to be the next obama, he had less credility for dem primary voters.
Moulton is actually about as conservative as you can get for a Massachusetts Democrat. I understand there are plenty of swing races where you need to be that conservative to win, but the MA senate is not one of them. If (as Moulton claims) you need to appeal to moderates to win his house seat then he should stay in the house. A Democrat needs to be colosally inept to lose a senate race here.
That said, Markey is 80. Someone told me a long time ago that 90% of life is showing up and I’m not convinced Market can do that into 2032.
I really hope anyone else runs because both of these guys would be awful choices.
Nitpick: Markey is actually 79. He’ll turn 80 next July.