Two longtime House Democrats face primary challenges from younger opponents

Two Democrats who've spent decades in Congress this week became the latest in their party to face primary challenges from much younger opponents.

Longtime Democratic Maryland Rep. Steny Hoyer has yet to announce whether he will seek re-election next year for a 24th two-year term in Congress.

If he does, he will face a primary challenger who is making Hoyer's age — the congressman turns 86 next month and would be 89 at the end of his next term — a centerpiece of his campaign.

Meanwhile, 78-year-old Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts—first elected to Congress nearly half a century ago—announced last October that he would seek another six-year term in the Senate. He is now facing a primary challenger who has criticized what he calls the senator’s "absence" in pushing back against President ...