Editing Ed Markey (section)

===Elections===
[[File:Ed Markey 101st Congress portrait.jpg|thumb|150px|left|Markey during the [[101st United States Congress]] (1989)]]
On May 21, 1976, incumbent Congressman [[Torbert Macdonald]] died in office.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1976/05/22/archives/rep-macdonald-58-dies-led-election-law-reform-powerful-legislature.html|title=Rep. Macdonald, 58, Dies; Led Election Law Reform|work=The New York Times|author=Hanley, Robert|date=May 22, 1976|access-date=September 21, 2020}}</ref> Markey, who had just been elected to a third term in the state house, entered a twelve-candidate Democratic primary<ref>{{cite book |last1=Barone |first1=Michael |author-link1=Michael Barone (pundit) |last2=Ujifusa |first2=Grant |title=The Almanac of American Politics 1988|work=[[National Journal]] |year=1987 |page=561|title-link=The Almanac of American Politics }}</ref> for what was then the [[Massachusetts's 7th congressional district|7th district]]. In the primary—the real contest in this heavily Democratic district—Markey won the nomination with a plurality of 22% of the vote.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=374833 |title=MA District 07 – D Primary Race – Sep 14, 1976 |publisher=Our Campaigns |access-date=February 19, 2014}}</ref> In the November 1976 election he defeated Republican Richard Daly 77%–18%.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=32052 |title=MA District 07 – Special Election Race – Nov 02, 1976 |publisher=Our Campaigns |access-date=February 19, 2014}}</ref> That election doubled as both a special election for the balance of Macdonald's 11th term and a regular election for a full two-year term, and so Markey took office later that night. This gave him greater seniority than other Representatives first elected in 1976.

Markey was challenged in a Democratic primary three times, first in 1980, when he won 85%;<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=756685 |title=MA District 07 – D Primary Race – Sep&nbsp;16, 1980 |publisher=Our Campaigns |access-date=February 19, 2014}}</ref> then in 1984, when he won 54%;<ref name="ourcampaigns.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=501530 |title=MA District 7 – D Primary Race – Sep 18, 1984 |publisher=Our Campaigns |access-date=February 19, 2014}}</ref> and finally in 2002, when he won 85% of the vote.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=1455 |title=MA District 7 – D Primary Race – Sep 17, 2002 |publisher=Our Campaigns |access-date=February 19, 2014}}</ref>

Markey was reelected 19 more times from this district, which included most of the northern suburbs of [[Boston]]. His lowest vote total was 62% in 1992, in a three-way election. Markey faced no Republican opposition in eight of his bids for reelection, in 1978, 1980, 1986, 1988, 1990, 2000, 2002, and 2006.<ref name="clerk">{{cite web|url=http://clerk.house.gov/member_info/electionInfo/index.html |title=Office of the House Clerk – Electoral Statistics |publisher=Clerk of the United States House of Representatives |access-date=January 5, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080730201058/http://clerk.house.gov/member_info/electionInfo/index.html |archive-date=July 30, 2008  }}</ref><ref name="fedelect">{{cite web|url=http://www.fec.gov/pubrec/electionresults.shtml|title=Election Results|publisher=[[Federal Election Commission]]|access-date=January 5, 2013}}</ref> His district was renumbered the 5th after the 2010 census, in which Massachusetts lost a district.