Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) lobbied Democrats to ban super PACs from meddling in their primaries. Now, despite his crusade, he’s being bolstered by one in a messy primary against Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA).

Candidates are prohibited under federal election laws from coordinating with or receiving money from super PACs. Still, Markey has so far declined to denounce several anti-Moulton ads from the pro-Markey Commonwealth Together PAC ahead of the Sept. 1 primary, the same sort of intervention that he’s lobbied the Democratic National Committee to curb by forbidding such “dark money” organizations from spending in primaries.