A Republican and Democrat challenging Ed Markey walked into a debate — without the incumbent. Here are four takeaways.
It’s only June, and Massachusetts voters are months away from casting their first primaryballots. But in Allston on Tuesday, there was already a general election feel in the air.
Two candidates running to represent Massachusetts in the US Senate — US Representative Seth Moulton, a Democrat, and John Deaton, an attorney and the presumptive Republican nominee — sparred in an hourlong debate moderated by WBZ’s Jon Keller, taking swipes at one another on immigration, congressionalaid to Israel, and environmental issues.
Missing from the studio was USSenator Ed Markey, the 79-year-old incumbent whomMoulton and Deaton are both seeking to unseat. Markey “was invited to participate in this debate, but declined,” Keller said at the top of the program.
Instead, viewers got what may be the only time Moulton and Deaton will share a debate stage — depending on which Democrat ultimately survives their primary. Here are four takeaways from the curious event:
Much of the focus was on the guy not there
The debate was underway for about five seconds before Deaton addressed the absence in the room.
”Shame on Senator Markey for not being here,” Deaton said.
“I am not a young man by anyone’s standard,” the 59-year-old added. “[Markey’s] first year in elected office, I was 6. Seth wasn’t even alive, and he’s not here to defend his record because he can’t.”
Markey’s decision to not attend, and the reasons why his opponents believe they should replace him, popped up across the debate, with Deaton often lobbing sharper critiques and Moulton more cordially differentiating himself from his Democratic primary opponent, including on Markey’s vote in 2002 to authorize the use of force in Iraq or, more recently, votes confirming Trump nominees.
Deaton, at one point, called the senator a “coward,” prompting the congressman to go as far as to defend Markey.
“He should be here today. That doesn’t make him a coward — he’s not a coward, he’s a lifelong public servant,” said Moulton, 47. “We should thank him for that service. There just comes a time to pass the torch to the next generation.”
In a statement before the debate aired, Cam Charbonnier, Markey’s campaign manager, lobbed criticisms at Moulton for even agreeing to appear, saying the debate was giving a platform to a “MAGA candidate.”
“Senator Markey is in Washington fighting for Massachusetts families,” Charbonnier said.
Deaton painted Moulton as a ‘younger’ Markey
With Markey not onstage, Deaton wasted no time in trying to tie the senator’s primary opponent to him, repeatedlysaying “Seth Moulton and Ed Markey” in the same breath.
“If you look at Seth’s argument, it is simply he’s younger than Markey. He sees eye to eye on all the policies,” Deaton said. “That’s not change — that’s promotion dressed up as generational change.”
Deaton accused Moulton of not passing meaningful legislation during his six terms in the House and listed Moulton’s vocal opposition to US Representative Nancy Pelosi asHouse speaker and hisunsuccessful presidential run as evidence of “self-service.”
He also repeatedly criticized Moulton for becoming “Mr. Progressive,” casting him as having adopted more left-leaning positions while running in a Democratic primary.
It’s similar to attacks a pro-Markey super PAC has waged against Moulton. Markey’s campaign in its statement Tuesday called the debate the “latest stunt that Seth hopes will give the illusion that he is a real progressive.”
Said Deaton:“If flip-flopping was a sport, Seth Moulton would be an Olympic champion.”
Moulton leaned into his congressional experience, pointing to his office’s constituent services and legislation he sponsored creating the 988 mental health hot line.
In response to claims he’s too similar to Markey, Moulton repeated a common refrain: “It’s time for a new generation of leaders.”
Deaton didn’t back Trump. He loomed anyway.
The one man mentioned more oftenover the hourlong faceoff than Markey was PresidentTrump. The pair name-dropped the president several dozen times, as Moulton tried to tie him and his administration’s unpopularity in Massachusetts to Deaton, and Deaton repeatedly insisted he had never backed Trump.
Those flashpoints especially cropped up around immigration. Moulton advocated for defunding and prosecuting federal immigration enforcement officers and challenged Deaton’s criticisms of how Democrats handled the issue by asking why Republicans have not passed major changes to immigration policy since Trump took office.
“You may say you’re independent, you may say you haven’t voted for [Trump], but you’re just going to enable his agenda, and he is the biggest problem we have in America today,” Moulton said, challenging Deaton.
The repeated references to Trump prompted Deaton, at one point, to retort, “Let me introduce myself. I’m John Deaton. I’m debating you, not Donald Trump.” Deaton insisted that his vote would not be “for sale” to Trump or any other party official.
“When they stand before you, it’s as Democrats. I stand before you as an American,” Deaton said, referencingMoulton and Markey. “I do not have loyalty to a person, a party, or an agenda — just common sense in the Constitution.”
Both said they would defy party norms
The two men, in between swipes, at times hinted at a glimmer of agreement — that their unconventional backgrounds before entering politics meant they wouldn’t be afraid to buck their respective parties.
Moulton referenced his military background before running for his US House seat in 2014, saying that it shaped his approach to politics and that he wasn’t “someone who planned my life around running for office.”
“I’m not afraid to challenge the Democratic establishment when it needs to change,” Moulton said. He pointed to his work backing Democratic challengers through his Serve America PAC.
But while Moulton clarified he was still“proud to be a Democrat,” Deaton adopted a more independent streak.
He pointed to criticisms he received during his 2024 run against Senator Elizabeth Warren for not backing Trump that year, proudly declaring that he “never bent the knee” and if elected, would “vote my conscience.”
“‘F’ the Republican Party, ‘F’ the Democrat Party,” Deaton said Tuesday. “They all suck.”
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