The Democratic establishment is trying to kick Ed Markey out of the Senate in tomorrow’s Massachusetts primary. It is difficult to overstate how devastating a Markey loss would be. Joe Kennedy III defeating the working-class author of the Green New Deal during a climate crisis would make 2020 an even worse year than it has already been.

Markey, though, is not merely a Johnny-come-lately or a good environmental legislator — you can detect his deeper commitment to economic justice by taking a look back on his career as one of the lawmakers willing to wage the toughest possible fight in Congress: the battle to prevent Wall Street’s takeover of our economy.

This key part of Markey’s career is lost history — but it is the most revelatory, because combating the financial industry is not like any other policy battle for a Democrat. It is not like taking on the fossil fuel industry or the gun industry, which has gone all-in with the Republican Party. Being a Democrat and challenging Wall Street means going up against both the GOP and your own Democratic Party, which has its own deep and lucrative ties to a financial industry that bankrolls the party’s candidates.