Seth Moulton

Sen. Ed Markey, the incumbent, did not participate. But his presence still loomed large.

Rep. Seth Moulton and GOP Senate candidate John Deaton met Tuesday night for a unique clash: a debate between the presumptive Republican nominee and the primary candidate hoping to oust a well-established incumbent. That incumbent is Sen. Ed Markey, who is seeking another six-year Senate term this fall.

Moulton, an ambitious North Shore Democrat who has served in the House of Representatives since 2015, is waging a primary campaign against Markey, largely based on questions of age and the need for generational change within the Democratic Party. Deaton, an attorney who lost to Sen. Elizabeth Warren in 2024, is again casting himself as a pragmatic outsider who can channel frustrations voters have with both parties.

As both Deaton and Moulton look to increase their name recognition, they agreed to a debate moderated by WBZ’s Jon Keller. Here are three takeaways.

Markey’s presence

Despite not being on the stage, Markey loomed over the debate.

Deaton wasted no time laying into Markey, criticizing him for maintaining a residence in Maryland and emphasizing the incumbent’s age. Markey, 79, was first elected to Congress in 1976. Deaton, who is 59, hammered this from the get-go.

“I am not a young man by anyone’s standard,” Deaton said. “[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.”

Deaton went on to call Markey a “coward” for skipping the debate, which caused Moulton to defend his fellow Democrat. Moulton called Markey a “lifelong public servant” who should be thanked for his service, but he stressed that now is the time to pass the torch to a new generation.

Deaton defended his labeling of Markey as a “coward” by referencing Markey’s 2008 vote to “bail out the banks,” which he blamed for hurting poor people.

Moulton did level a notable attack at Markey that tied in a reference to his own service as a Marine in Iraq. Moulton cast himself as someone who did not plan to run for office from a young age, but whose mindset was changed by the Iraq War. Markey voted in favor of a 2002 resolution that authorized the use of force in Iraq.

“They didn’t ask the tough questions in Washington, they just naively believed the lies of the Bush administration,” Moulton said.

Trump’s presence

Much of the debate centered on topics related to another older politician who was nowhere near the debate stage: President Donald Trump.

Asked about Trump’s use of Marines and other troops for domestic missions, Moulton said such actions should never be permitted. He accused the president of politicizing the military and “terrorizing” Democrat-run cities, which transitioned into a conversation about ICE.

Deaton rejected the notion of abolishing ICE, saying the calls to do so are not policies but election-year “slogans” reminiscent of how Democrats wanted to “defund the police” in 2020. He painted Moulton as a dyed in the wool partisan who, like those on the far right, uses topics like immigration, abortion, and transgender issues to divide the country and raise money.

Deaton insisted that he does not support Trump or have loyalty to either party.

“The criticism of John Deaton is always the same by the extremes: I either don’t love Trump enough or I don’t hate Trump enough. The reality is, I don’t give a you-know-what about Trump or all your partisan politics,” Deaton said.

Moulton said he was proud to be a Democrat, compared to Republicans who have only done two things over the past 25 years: “cut taxes for the rich and start wars we don’t need.”

“The single best thing that anyone can do to help Americans, to help working families, to help people struggling in Massachusetts… is get rid of Donald Trump,” Moulton said. “When we send a Republican to Washington, you may say you’re independent, you may say you haven’t voted for him, but you’re just going to enable his agenda.”

On immigration, Moulton advocated for the prosecution of ICE officials who have carried out Trump’s mass deportation agenda, the creation of a system that incentivizes people to come to America legally, and a reasonable pathway to citizenship for those who want it.

Deaton blamed so-called “sanctuary” policies that limit cooperation between local police and federal immigration agents for “destroying” Massachusetts. He attacked Democrats for supporting an open border policy and said that America should expand legal immigration while having “zero tolerance” for illegal immigration.

Aid to Israel

To end the debate, both candidates were asked about Israel and what America’s relationship should be with its most prominent ally in the Middle East.

Deaton said he would not vote to send any more money to Israel, Ukraine, or any other country unless it is clearly “proven” that such funding would be in the best interest of Americans and Massachusetts residents. He accused Moulton of “begging” AIPAC for an endorsement, only to later turn a rejection of their funding into a pillar of his campaign.

“If flip-flopping was a sport, Seth Moulton would be an Olympic champion,” Deaton said.

Citing his opposition to the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Moulton said last October that he was returning all AIPAC donations and refusing to accept further funding from the pro-Israel group. Later, Jewish Insider reported that Moulton sought AIPAC’s endorsement before turning against the group.

Denying this reporting, Moulton said his position has not changed but that AIPAC’s had in recent years. He advocated for conditional aid to Israel in the same way that America does for any other country, and said that the U.S. should not support Netanyahu. It is still important to provide defensive aid, Moulton said, because it saves lives on both sides of military conflicts.

He voiced support for a two-state solution for Israelis and Palestinians.

“Everybody in the Middle East deserves the same democratic rights and freedoms. They deserve to not have to worry about being killed from bombs dropped from 30,000 feet or by terrorists invading their neighborhood,” Moulton said.