Transcript: Rep. Seth Moulton on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan," Aug. 23, 2026

The following is the transcript of the interview with Rep. Seth Moulton, Democrat of Massachusetts and Senate primary candidate, that aired on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" on Aug. 23, 2026.

MARGARET BRENNAN: We're going to turn now to another congressman, and that is Seth Moulton, who joins us from Salem, Massachusetts. And Congressman Moulton wants to be Senator Moulton. He's launched a primary challenge to Ed Markey. Good to have you on the program, Congressman. The last--

MARGARET BRENNAN: Last time we saw a young challenger go after Senator Markey's seat, Markey won. How do you get the partisan enthusiast to show up for you when he's got Senator Bernie Sanders and AOC behind him?

REP. MOULTON: Well, as the Boston Globe said in endorsing me, which was a switch for them, by the way, because they endorsed Senator Markey six years ago. The future is now. The world has changed, and Senator Markey is very much running the same campaign he did back in '20 when all those same people endorsed him. But in the last debate that we just had this week, he explained to Massachusetts voters that he can't understand the different apps on his phone. He doesn't know which ones use AI, and then he tried to clean it up by explaining that AI is like an automobile, and we need to regulate it the way we regulate seatbelts. So, the point is, the world has just moved on. It's not a personal thing with Ed Markey. In fact, he and I agree on most policies. It's about whether one Senate seat should--

REP. MOULTON: --belong to one person while the world is moving on without him. He's been there for- he's been in Washington for 50 years, Margaret.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Yeah, and you have focused on that need for generational change for some time. You tried to oust Nancy Pelosi from leadership in 2016, 2018. You pushed then for generational change. You ran for president in 2019. In 2024, you were the third member of Congress to say Biden should not run again. So, big picture, it looks like you've been saying the Democratic Party has been on the wrong path for a very long time.

REP. MOULTON: Yes, that's fair. I mean, this is very authentic to me. From the very first time I ran for Congress against a nine-term incumbent in my own party and had many of those same establishment endorsers of Ed Markey campaigning against me, I've been willing to challenge the establishment when I don't think it's getting the job done. And I'll be the first to admit that it's not always popular, right? It doesn't always resonate with people. But right now, it's desperately needed. More than seven out of 10 Democrats in Massachusetts say they want new Democratic Party leadership. On day one of this campaign, I said I'm not going to vote for Senator Schumer for senator leader- for Senate leader.

REP. MOULTON: Well, not only is Markey supporting Schumer, he just took $62,000 from Schumer's fund to flip Senate seats. Money that Democrats raised across the country to go to Maine and Ohio and Alaska to flip said seats from red to blue, he took that away from that victory fund to bail out his own campaign.