波士顿——在这场围绕80岁的埃德·马基是否年龄太大、不宜再竞选美国参议员任期的选战中，这位马萨诸塞州民主党人在近期一场辩论中的回答尤为引人注目。
当被问及是否在工作中使用过Claude或ChatGPT等人工智能平台时，马基似乎对此并不清楚。他回答说自己使用的是“iPhone或iPad里自带的任何东西——只要它弹出来”，并补充说他不知道“我的iPad可能在使用哪些公司的产品”。
对于18岁的阿森·巴格达萨里安来说，这个回答印证了马基的竞选对手、47岁的联邦众议员塞思·穆尔顿竞选活动中的一个核心担忧：马基在下一个任期结束时将达到86岁，他已经太老了，无法代表这一代人应对50年前马基进入国会时根本不存在的问题。巴格达萨里安即将成为波士顿东北大学的大一新生，他是穆尔顿的支持者。
“坦白说，我没想到他在这个话题上会表现得如此一无所知，”巴格达萨里安说。他表示，人工智能是一个“重大问题”，国家需要“了解他们被要求监管什么”的领导人。
2026年的中期选举带来了许多像穆尔顿挑战马基这样的代际挑战，年轻的民主党人正在向长期在任的老牌政客发起冲击，并在某些情况下成功将他们拉下马。有迹象表明，民主党选民，尤其是年轻选民，正在寻求改变。一些年轻选民认为，年长的政客无法真正理解一个被人工智能、高昂的住房成本和学生债务彻底改变的世界。
但并非所有投票支持该州参议员候选人的年轻人都持这种观点。在这个民主党占据绝对优势的州，初选往往决定了谁能最终当选。马基拥有大批年轻支持者，其中一些人表示，党内的内部辩论更多是关于政策而非年龄。他赢得了“美国高中生民主党人”和“美国大学生民主党人”组织的背书，以及纽约州联邦众议员亚历山大·奥卡西奥-科尔特斯和纽约市长佐赫兰·马姆达尼等知名进步派人士的支持。
马萨诸塞大学洛厄尔分校大学生民主党人主席马特·凯利就是这些年轻支持者中的一员。他并不否认马基在被问及人工智能使用问题时表现不佳，他说：“我承认那不是个好回答。”
但凯利表示，与马基是否知道如何使用最新技术相比，他更关心马基是否懂得如何对其进行治理。他说，穆尔顿相对年轻，并不意味着他的观点更能代表年轻选民。
“仅仅因为他看起来更年轻，并不意味着他的想法更年轻，”他说。
马基的许多年轻支持者将穆尔顿关于这位参议员50年政治生涯的论点反转了过来。对他们来说，长久的政治生涯提供了一份可供评判的记录——这份记录显示了这些政客在受到年轻选民欢迎之前，是否持有相同的立场。一个例子是马基在2002年投票反对成立国土安全部，该部门后来促成了美国移民和海关执法局（ICE）的建立。
17岁的米兰·范·达姆担任“美国高中生民主党人”组织的全国主席。他表示，代际领导力“与其说是维基百科页面上的年龄数字”，不如说是候选人所代表的理念及其一贯性。
21岁的伊曼纽尔学院学生艾比·沙登同样指出，马基是《绿色新政》的联合起草人，也是“全民医保”的早期支持者。
她说：“有一种观念认为，年轻人天生就更具进步主义色彩，但在这种情况下，这显然不是事实。”
对凯利来说，关于人工智能的辩论已经在身边上演。他就读的洛厄尔市有一个拟建的数据中心，因其对社区的潜在影响而遭到部分居民的反对。凯利表示，马基推动加强对数据中心的监管，比这位参议员关于人工智能的尴尬回答更重要。
凯利表示，他这一代人毕业时将进入一个越来越受人工智能塑造的经济体，同时面临的生活成本使得他们更难实现前几代人拥有的财务安全感。
他说：“是的，马基的回答在修辞上表现不佳，在视觉观感上也不好。”但在谈到谁对“即将步入新经济环境的群体”更有利时，他表示，马基的政治记录更为重要。
穆尔顿抓住了马基在辩论中的回答，对他说：“参议员，如果你连自己手机或iPad上在用的是什么都不知道，这就是为什么我们需要新一代领导人来监管这些技术。”穆尔顿称马基对该技术的模糊认知“可能会让人失去参选资格”。
马基予以反驳，他说：“它叫Siri还是叫Claude没有任何区别”，并强调熟悉个别人工智能产品不如为该技术建立安全护栏重要。他指出了自己提出的一项旨在监管人工智能对儿童、工人、公民权利和环境影响的立法。
在整个竞选期间，穆尔顿一直强调马基的年龄，呼吁实现“代际变革”并对国会议员设定年龄限制。
然而，对于穆尔顿的一些年轻支持者来说，争论的焦点不仅仅是候选人的年龄。
即将进入塔夫茨大学就读的18岁大一新生莫莉·布兰德指出，人工智能和社交媒体等重塑了她这一代人生活的技术——包括心理健康。她以穆尔顿致力于将988确立为全美自杀和危机干预热线的工作为例，说明了她希望看到的应对方式。
“社交媒体引发了现代的心理健康问题，所以我们需要现代的解决方案，”布兰德说。
她补充道：“AI出现之前的世界与现在截然不同。我认为，难以看清且难以理解的一点是，我的参议员并不理解我们一直面临的挑战之一。”
她这一代人的政治世界也受到了共和党总统唐纳德·特朗普的影响。
她说：“在我的有生之年，我没有看到民主党和民主党建制派真正让事情变得更好，”她指出住房成本和能源价格不断上涨，以及特朗普的崛起和连任。“所以我感觉我们现在的现状和建制派根本行不通。”
Moulton says Sen． Markey， 80， is too old for another term
BOSTON --In a race that has centered on whetherEd Markey， 80， is too old for another U．S． Senate term， the Massachusetts Democrat＇s answer to a recent debate question was especially striking．
When asked whether he uses AI platforms like Claude or ChatGPT in his work， Markey seemed unclear on the topic． He responded that he uses “whatever is inside of my iPhone or my iPad — whatever comes up” and added that he doesn＇t know “what companies my iPad may be using．”
For Arsen Bagdassarian， an 18-year-old supporter of Markey’s rival， 47-year-old U．S． Rep．Seth Moulton， the answer reinforced a concern that has become central to Moulton’s campaign to unseat the incumbent in Tuesday＇s party primary： that Markey， who would be 86 at the end of another term， is too old to represent a generation confronting problems that didn’t exist when Markey entered Congress 50 years ago．
“To be frank， I didn’t expect him to be as clueless as he really was on that topic，” said Bagdassarian， an incoming freshman at Boston’s Northeastern University． Artificial intelligence is “a major concern，” he said， and the country needs leaders “who understand what they’re being asked to regulate．”
The 2026 midterms have brought a number ofgenerational challengeslike the one Moulton is waging against Markey， with younger Democrats taking on — and insome cases unseating— longtime incumbents． There are signs that Democratic voters， especially， arelooking for change， and some young voters argue older politicians can’t truly understand a world transformed by artificial intelligence， rising housing costs and student debt．
But that hasn’t been the case for all young people voting for the Senate nominee in a heavily Democratic state where the primary often decides who wins office． Markey has a strong following of young supporters， some of whom say that the internal party debate is more over policy than age． He’s won the endorsement of the High School Democrats of America and the College Democrats of America， as well as the backing of popular progressives such as U．S． Rep． Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani．
Among those younger supporters is Matt Kelly， president of the UMass Lowell College Democrats． Kelly doesn＇t dispute that Markey stumbled when asked about his use of AI， saying， “I＇ll admit it wasn＇t a good answer．”
But Kelly said he cares less about whether Markey knows how to use the latest technology than whether he understands how to govern it． Moulton’s relative youth， Kelly said， doesn’t necessarily make his views more representative of young voters．
“Just because he has a younger face doesn’t mean that he has younger ideas，” he said．
Many of Markey’s younger supporters turn Moulton’s argument about the senator’s 50-year political career on its head． To them， longevity provides a record they can judge — one that shows whether politicians held the same positions before they became popular with younger voters． One example is Markey’s vote in 2002 against the creation of the Department of Homeland Security， which later led to the creation of U．S． Immigration and Customs Enforcement．
Milan van Dam， a 17-year-old who serves as national chair of the High School Democrats of America， said generational leadership is “less about an age on a Wikipedia page” than the ideas a candidate represents and their consistency through time．
Abby Shadden， a 21-year-old Emmanuel College student， similarly pointed to Markey’s co-authorship of the Green New Deal and his early support for Medicare for All．
“There is this idea that younger people are just automatically more progressive when， in this case， it is very much not true，” she said．
For Kelly， the debate over AI is already playing out close to home． Aproposed data centerin Lowell， where he attends college， has generated opposition from some residents over its potential impact on the community． Kelly said Markey’s push for greater regulation of data centers matters more to him than the senator’s awkward answer about AI．
Kelly said his generation will be graduating into an economy increasingly shaped by artificial intelligence while facing a cost of living that has made it harder to achieve the same financial security as previous generations．
“Yes， Ed Markey’s answer rhetorically didn’t come off well， optically didn’t look well，” Kelly said． But when it comes to who will be good for “the group that’s graduating into this new economy，” he said， Markey’s record matters more．
Moulton seized on Markey＇s debate answer， telling him： “Senator， if you don’t even know what you’re using on your phone or your iPad， like this is why we need a new generation of leaders to regulate these technologies．” Moulton called Markey’s loose grasp of the technology “potentially disqualifying．”
Markey pushed back， saying， “It doesn’t make any difference whether it’s called Siri or it’s called Claude，” and emphasizing that familiarity with individual AI products was less important than putting safeguards around the technology． He pointed to legislation he has introduced to regulate AI’s effects on children， workers， civil rights， and the environment．
Moulton has emphasized Markey’s age throughout the race， calling for “generational change” and age limits for members of Congress．
For some of Moulton’s young supporters， however， the argument is about more than the candidates’ ages．
Molly Blander， an 18-year-old incoming Tufts University freshman， pointed to artificial intelligence and social media as technologies that have reshaped life for her generation — including its mental health． She cited Moulton’s work to establish 988 as the national suicide and crisis lifeline as an example of the kind of response she wants to see．
“Social media has created a modern mental health problem， so we need modern solutions，” Blander said．
“The world before AI is so different than it is now，” Blander added． “I think what was hard to see and hard to understand is that my senator does not understand one of the challenges that we’ve been facing．”
Her generation’s political world has also been shaped by Republican President Donald Trump．
“In my lifetime， I haven’t seen the Democratic Party and the Democratic establishment really make things much better，” she said， pointing to rising housing and energy costs and Trump’s rise and reelection． “And so I feel like the status quo and the establishment that we have now just isn’t working．”
