‘With all due respect’: Markey, Moulton trade barbs in heated first debate of Mass. Senate primary

Politics admin July 8, 2026 0 Comments

‘With all due respect’: Markey, Moulton trade barbs in heated first debate of Mass. Senate primary

CHICOPEE — US Senator Ed Markey spent the early part of this year publicly ignoring his primary challenger, US Representative Seth Moulton. There’s no question where their targets are now.

In the opening debate of their Senate contest, the two Democrats on Wednesday traded barbs on a variety of fronts, with Markey taking shots at Moulton over his stances on Medicare for All and investments in the defense sector, both attacking each other on their financial disclosures and tax returns, and Moulton likening Markey’s approach to that of President Trump.

“He attacks people for doing things,” the Salem Democrat said of the incumbent.

The hourlong event marked the first head-to-head matchup between the pair after months of back-and-forth over when, where, and how many debates should take place in the state’s signature political race.

The often-chippy debate presented a clear contrast. Markey argued that his progressive policy positions — and long list of other politicians supporting him — are better aligned with Massachusetts voters. Moulton, meanwhile, laid out the need for fresher ideas and for building Democratic majorities beyond Massachusetts.

Policy-wise, there is little daylight between the two candidates. Both, for instance, blasted the Trump administration’s aggressive campaign to detain and deport immigrants, as well as the Supreme Court’s recent ruling ending temporary protected status for Haitians and Syrians. Both have called for the abolition of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

They have also centered their election bids on calls to address residents’ affordability concerns, funding for transportation, and support for clean air efforts in the western part of the state.

And they both, at several points, agreed that their party is flawed and that the country at large “needs change.”

Many of their differences hinged on more personal factors. Moulton has made the case that Massachusetts needs a new generation of leadership in Washington to take on the Trump administration. Markey and his supporters, meanwhile, have painted Moulton as inauthentic and insufficiently progressive, pointing to more moderate positions he took in the past.

That dynamic manifested almost immediately on Wednesday when Moulton declared that Massachusetts needs “someone who’s going to change the playbook, invest in a new generation of leaders, and start making Democrats win again.”

“With all due respect, no one’s going to ride your train because it’s too slow,” he said to Markey. “Senator, you had 50 years. What are you going to do in the next six?”

In response to a question about his age, Markey, 79, used familiar refrains that “this is the most energized I’ve ever been” and that “it’s not your age, it’s the age of your ideas.”

On Tuesday, Markey told the Globe’s Editorial Board that, should he win again, his next term in the Senate would be his last. He would be 86 at the end of that term in 2033.

“I need one more term to finish this progressive agenda, and then I will step down,” Markey told reporters after the debate Wednesday. “But we need to complete the agenda — we need Medicare For All, we need a Green New Deal.”

The two Democrats have each sought to paint themselves as best positioned to bring new ideas to Washington and take on the Trump administration — though, as one panel member pointed out, each has served several terms in Washington,

Both candidates argued that experience itself wasn’t necessarily a bad thing — just that their particular résumé was best to meet the moment.

“Experience is not the opposite of change,” Markey said. “Experience is what you use in order to create change. That is what I have done.”

Moulton, who first won his House seat by topping a longtime incumbent and once sought to oust Nancy Pelosi as then-House Speaker, emphasized that he has “consistently fought against the establishment, even when it means standing up to my own party.”

The congressman also pointed to his work boosting veteran candidates around the country, arguing Markey hasn’t taken action to boost Democrats’ numbers in Congress.

Markey, meanwhile, leaned on the support from prominent left-leaning Democrats in Massachusetts and beyond, referencing his work with Representative Ayanna Pressley and Senator Elizabeth Warren and Senator Bernie Sanders — all of whom have endorsed him. He also repeatedly listed, at length, the endorsements he’s garnered from local officials at all levels across the state, including in Moulton’s own congressional district.

Moulton, in response, pounced. “Senator, we know that all the elected establishment politicians have endorsed you. The question is, is that working?” he asked.

Moulton at times deflected when asked to defend his stances in the past, including backlash to comments he made in 2024 blaming identity politics for the party’s losses that year and saying he didn’t want his daughters “getting run over on a playing field by a male or formerly male athlete.”

He didn’t directly address the 2024 comments on Wednesday, instead pivoting to Markey’s Senate confirmation vote of Trump nominees, including US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, whom Moulton said earned a “0 percent” rating from the Human Rights Campaign. (The Human Rights Campaign political committee has endorsed Markey’s campaign).

Markey’s campaign immediately sent out a “fact-check” email to reporters with the subject line: “Ed Markey Won’t Scapegoat Trans Kids. Seth Moulton Does.”

Moulton, speaking to reporters after the debate, said the point of his 2024 comments “is that we need to have a discussion” about identity politics.

“And as a Democrat, you’re not even allowed to have that debate, and that really doesn’t serve the very people we’re trying to protect,” Moulton said.

“I’m not afraid to take tough questions from transgender kids, from transgender parents,” he added. “They want someone who’s going to fight forward, who’s going to actually foster this debate.”

Wednesday’s first side-by-side event with the Democrats came weeks after Moulton participated in an unusual debate against John Deaton, the presumptive GOP nominee, which Markey declined to attend.

During that debate, Moulton at times defended the absent senator, at one point pushing back on Deaton’s claim that Markey was a “coward” for not attending. But on Wednesday, that civility fizzled — even as Moulton often prefaced his criticisms with a “with all due respect.”

The barbs on Wednesday echoed criticisms from Moulton and Markey the last time the pair shared a stage — though at separate times — at the state Democratic convention in late May, when Markey resoundingly won his party’s endorsement.

Markey and Moulton are slated to participate in two more debates before the Sept. 1 primary: One on Aug. 3 in Dedham, hosted by Boston 25 and GBH News, and another on Aug. 20, hosted by WCVB, WBUR, and the Boston Globe.