Incumbent U.S. Senator Ed Markey and his challenger, Rep. Seth Moulton, are separated by single digits in the Democratic primary race, according to recent polling. The two candidates met on a debate stage for the first time at WWLP in Chicopee, sponsored by a consortium of Western Mass. news outlets, including New England Public Media. The debate featured high and low points for both candidates, and made it clear that with the primary election less than two months away, each has both strengths that they’re playing to and liabilities that they’re still struggling to address.
Here are the five biggest takeaway from the debate.
1. Moulton struggled to explain his stance on transgender girls in sports. Less than halfway through the debate, Moulton was asked by Tony Fay of WWLP about his comments in the wake of Kamala Harris’ presidential loss to Donald Trump. At the time, Moulton suggested Democrats lost in part because they were too doctrinaire on issues like trans girls’ participation in sports, telling the New York Times: “I have two little girls. I don’t want them getting run over on a playing field by a male or formerly male athlete. But as a Democrat, I’m supposed to be afraid to say that.”
Fay quoted those comments and noted that, just last week, Moulton condemned the Supreme Court’s decision allowing states to ban transgender girls’ and women’s participation in school sports. He then asked Moulton for his position on trans athletes in school sports, and whether he still stands by what he told the Times. In response, Moulton assured the LGBTQ community that he’s always stood with them, and said he’d seen the pain of the LGBTQ community because he’s held 50 town halls compared to Markey’s one. He also touted his 100% rating from the advocacy group the Human Rights Campaign, and said Markey can’t claim to support LGBTQ rights because he backed the nomination of Marco Rubio, who has a zero rating from the Human Rights Campaign, as secretary of state.
But what Moulton did not do, notably, was answer Fay’s two questions, suggesting that nearly two years after he made those comments, he’s still not sure how to discuss them and the fallout they engendered.
Markey, for his part, touted what he called a “clear difference” between his record and Moulton’s and accused Moulton of throwing trans kids “under the political bus.” Moulton took another crack at the topic in his rebuttal, but never answered Fay’s original two questions.
Expect this to be a main point of attack for Markey moving forward, at least until Moulton figures out a better way to explain the point or points he was originally trying to make.
2. Markey was caught flat-footed by Moulton’s accusation that he’s been too cooperative with the Trump Administration. A few minutes after the exchange on transgender athletes, Moulton landed one of his most effective blows against Markey when he said: “You know what we really need? We need a senator who is not going to endorse Trump nominees. Senator Markey has supported 61 Trump nominees, including people like Judge [Dabney] Friedrich, who is enabling and empowering ICE.”
As Markey looked off in the other direction, seemingly in disgust, Moulton continued: “I think the people of Massachusetts deserve to know: did you just vote for them, Senator, because Senator [Chuck] Schumer told you to? Why did you support 61 Trump nominees?” (Moulton has said he wouldn’t support Schumer as the Democratic leader if Moulton wins the election and has pressed Markey to take a similar stance).
The debate moved on to another topic immediately, but if Markey had had a good answer at the ready, he could have found a way to use it without the moderator objecting. Instead, the exchange lent credence to a charge Moulton pushed throughout the debate: that Markey hasn’t fought hard enough, or effectively enough, against President Trump.
3. Markey wants the race to center on ideology, while Moulton wants it to center on age. Asked if recent high-profile victories by members of the Democratic Socialists of America suggest Democrats would benefit from a leftward turn, Moulton rejected the terms of the question.
“You know, the pundits and frankly the MAGA Republicans always try to divide Democrats by turning this into an ideological debate,” he replied. “But where you may see an ideological debate, I see establishment versus change. I see new energy from next-generation candidates. Because one thing that unites all of the primary wins — the more conservative and the more liberal — is that they are next-generation candidates willing to challenge the status quo.”
Markey, in contrast, endorsed both the premise of the question and the idea that the rise of the Democrats’ progressive flank is good for the party.
“It’s not your age, it’s the age of your ideas that are important, and in this race I’m the youngest guy,” Markey said. “These activists, these young people across the country — they want change. They want fundamental change.”
Markey cast himself as the fundamental-change candidate , touting his championing of the Green New Deal and support for Medicare for All.
4. Moulton deserves an award for the most disingenuous compliment. On multiple occasions during the debate, Moulton asserted — with a straight face — that he respects Markey’s 50 years of service in Congress. It was a hard claim to take seriously, since Moulton’s candidacy is predicated on the idea that Markey has been around too long and embodies the stale ineptitude Moulton thinks characterizes the Democratic establishment. But it was also a state-of-the-art example of the backhanded compliment as an effective campaign tool. Best of all, for Moulton, it can be deployed in response to virtually any question that’s thrown his way. So far, at least, Markey doesn’t seem to have a similar rhetorical weapon.
5. Despite some stark differences, Markey and Moulton are more similar than you might think. It can be easy, living in Massachusetts, to forget how left-leaning the vast majority of our candidates are compared to other places in the country. Markey and Moulton are separated by plenty, including their ages and their differing diagnoses of what Massachusetts needs from its junior senator right now. But as both made abundantly clear Wednesday, they’re united in seeing President Donald Trump as a debacle for the country and for American democracy. Either one, if they beat Republican John Deaton in November, will be an enthusiastic, full-throated opponent of the Trump Administration on pretty much every level imaginable. The majority of Massachusetts residents don’t hold Trump is high regard, so — as odd as it is to say about a U.S. Senate contest — it makes the race feel a bit less high-stakes than it might otherwise.
