Democratic U.S. Rep. John Tierney and his Republican challenger, Richard Tisei, wrangled over who would be more politically independent and a better fighter for the middle class during the first debate in the state’s 6th Congressional District contest on Sept. 27. The event took place at North Shore Community College in Lynn.
Up until the debate, this election has been fought through nasty campaign ads. In this first debate, that combative tone continued.
Tierney tried to tie Tisei to the conservative Republicans in Congress, saying, “My opponent, Mr. Tisei, would try to vote for that group that’s associated with Paul Ryan and the Ryan budget and the extremely ideological wing of the party. He has already gone to them for $3 million. He has gone to them for strategy on his campaign.”
Republicans consider this race their best chance of picking up a U.S. House seat in Massachusetts. A SuperPAC affiliated with the National Republican Congressional Committee spent $800,000 on a new campaign ad for Tisei — an openly gay, pro-choice Republican.
During the debate, Tisei repeatedly painted himself as a moderate. “When Mitt Romney was governor, I voted with him 54 percent of the time, I voted against him 46 percent of the time. I stood up to him on issues like gay marriage. I’m pro-choice,” he said.
Tierney’s family ties didn’t come up at all. Tierney’s wife, Patrice, has pleaded guilty to filing false tax returns for her brothers’ illegal gambling operation. Tierney wasn’t implicated and has said he thought the business was legitimate. But his brothers-in-law said he knew about it the whole time.
After the debate, in the parking lot, Tisei said the gambling issue was bound to come up at a later point: “I think people don’t expect perfection in their election officials, but they do expect them to be honest and forthright. And we’re picking up a lot of steam in this campaign because of that.”
The debate, which included Libertarian Daniel Fishman, touched on a range of other topics, including Medicare, student loans and tax cuts.
