NEW THIS MORNING — A nonprofit focused on building support for transgender rights in Congress is wading into Massachusetts’ Democratic Senate primary.
The Christopher Street Project, a hybrid PAC and nonprofit named for the street that’s home to the gay-rights landmark Stonewall Inn in New York City, is endorsing Sen. Ed Markey as he faces a primary challenge from Rep. Seth Moulton.
Tyler Hack, the group’s 19-year-old founder, launched the organization in 2024 after Democrats’ widespread defeat in the 2024 election, which some (including Moulton) blamed in part on the party’s messaging around identity politics.
“Sen. Markey has been a champion for trans rights,” Hack told Playbook. “He is the lead sponsor of the Trans Bill of Rights. He’s repeatedly used his platform, whether that be speaking at our trans day of visibility rally, holding a press conference on trans health care after the election … or lobbying his colleagues against the anti-trans provisions in the National Defense Authorization Act.”
“He knows what it looks like to fight, and he stands out in unity at every chance. That’s a clear contrast from what we see in Congressman Moulton,” Hack added.
Moulton caught the ire of some within his own party for comments he made last year about trans athletes, tying identity politics to Democrats’ losses in the November election. Before he announced his bid for Senate, Moulton was set to face a primary challenge from Bethany Andres-Beck, a trans software engineer. But not everyone was turned off by his remarks.
Moulton saw the largest fundraising haul of his congressional career in the months after he made the comments to The New York Times. And pollinfrom April showed that while slightly less than half of Americans (48 percent) would support legislation that prohibits transgender youth from joining school sports teams that match their gender identity, only 28 percent would oppose it.
The Massachusetts race is the first U.S. Senate contest the Christopher Street Project is getting involved in. The group endorsed Adelita Grijalva in Arizona’s 7th Congressional District earlier this year and is backing Illinois state Sen. Robert Peters in Illinois 2nd District. Next year’s Senate contest in Massachusetts is “a top priority for 2026,” Hack said.
