Massachusetts Senate race: Elizabeth Warren and John Deaton slug it out in first debate

BOSTON — With just weeks to go before the 2024 election and a significant number of ballots already cast, the pair of candidates vying to represent the Bay State in the U.S. Senate met for debate, where they wasted no time before laying into one another.

U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, seeking a third six-year term, joined former military prosecutor and political newcomer John Deaton at Tuesday at WBZ-TV studios in Boston for the first of two scheduled debates.

The first question offered by the moderators was about immigration. Deaton said it’s an issue where you can easily draw a line between him and Warren.

“She supports an open border,” Deaton said.

Republicans love to demonize immigrants, Warren shot back, but they don’t want to fix the border.

“Because it works as an election issue,” she said.

Deaton said he would not support former President Donald Trump’s plan to begin the largest mass deportation event in U.S. history, but said he does think there are some people who need to be deported.

“It’s a national security issue,” he said.

Warren said Democrats have tried to pass immigration reform, only to be blocked by Republicans.

“We need a comprehensive plan, and Democrats and Republicans need to work together,” she said.

Deaton said when it comes to immigration, there is “only one extremist on the stage tonight, Elizabeth Warren.”

Warren was asked about bipartisanship, and she said she would stand on her record there. She’s passed many bills alongside Republicans many times. In his response, Deaton accused her of not getting any work done over 12 years in the Senate. She said that’s simply not true.

Deaton also took aim at Warren’s characterization of him as another vote for the Trump agenda. In fact, Deaton said, he’s willing to take on Trump more than any Republican running.

Warren responded that Deaton wants to run to be a Republican senator, but gets upset when he’s called out for being a Republican.

Shifting topics to abortion, Warren said it’s “a matter of trust,” and, taking aim at her opponent, said Deaton swears that he’s in favor of abortion rights, but he can’t be believed.

“When we talk about abortion, we are potentially talking about the lives of our daughters and our granddaughters, and you cannot trust John Deaton,” Warren said.

Deaton responded by saying if he were in the Senate when Roe v. Wade was overturned, he would have demanded a vote on a Roe bill that day.

Deaton later turned a question about cryptocurrency back to Warren, saying she needed to explain why she was forming an “anti-crypto army.”

That prompted Warren to respond, “The question is, who are you going to represent in Washington.” Most of Deaton’s wealth, and his campaign funding, she said, comes from cryptocurrency.

On Israel, Deaton said that Warren’s claims of standing with Israel are hollow, that she’s “pro-Hamas.”

“She’s been more critical of our ally Israel than she has Hamas,” he said.

Warren said that Israel has a right to defend itself, but that the Israeli government doesn’t have the right to drag the U.S. into another war in the Middle East. She called for a two-state solution.

“We know what we need to do,” Warren said. The bombing must stop, the hostages must be secured, and all parties forced to the tables for talks, she said. “We don’t need rhetoric like this.”

On the housing crisis facing the state, Warren said she “has a plan” to solve the problem.

“I have a plan to help build 3 million new housing units,” she said.

But Deaton turned the topic to immigration, saying that the problem is being exacerbated by the open border, which he said Warren and the Democrats support.

On the state’s pending ballot question over the use of the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System, Deaton said he’s voting to keep the test in place because an assessment tool is needed, and that it helps students from every background get a better education.

Warren responded by saying that Massachusetts has the best schools in the country, but that she’d vote to get rid of the test as a graduation requirement, because it leaves students behind and results in teachers teaching to the test.

“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” Deaton said.

“I believe it’s our teachers that are producing this system. They are the ones on the ground with our kids, and they are the ones telling us just how terrible this test is,” Warren responded.

If polling is any guide, it’s Warren’s race to lose. A recent Suffolk University/Boston Globe survey showed her up by 24 points, 59% to 35%.

Warren is also winning the money game. She’s spent $4 million over the last two years, according to federal campaign finance records. Deaton, meanwhile, has raised $2 million since announcing his candidacy. Federal filings show Warren’s Senate campaign still has more than $5 million on hand.