Joe Kennedy, Ed Markey clash in first U.S. Senate debate

U.S. Sen. Ed Markey and U.S. Rep. Joe Kennedy III turned up the heat in their Senate race Tuesday, with the congressman using their first primary debate as an opportunity to go after the sitting senator’s record in an effort to strike contrast between the two similarly liberal politicians.

The scion of one of America’s most storied political families was forced from the top to confront why he’s seeking to unseat a veteran politician.

“This isn’t about whether or not Sen. Markey has made important contributions, of course he has,” Kennedy said. But, citing the “issues of the moment” under President Trump, Kennedy said, “We have to do everything we can to restore power to the Democratic Party across the country and flip the House, flip the Senate, flip the presidency and restore the courts and that — that I think is the type of leadership I can bring to this seat.”

Markey defended his legislative record, citing his leadership in co-authoring the Green New Deal with U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., who he made sure to name-drop. He also played up the $25 million he recently secured for gun violence research at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and his championing of Alzheimer’s research.

“I’ve not only been leading, I’ve delivered with legislation which passes,” Markey said.

But Kennedy, who supports the Green New Deal, dismissed Markey’s efforts by saying the “last transformative” environmental bill signed into law was former President Richard Nixon’s Clean Air Act.

The two also tangled over campaign finance — with Kennedy calling for Markey to take the People’s Pledge to limit third-party spending in their race.

Markey, who has previously taken a People’s Pledge, said, “We should welcome positive voices. We should welcome disclosed contributions so that environmentalists, women’s groups, labor groups, LBGTQ groups can speak in Massachusetts. It’s 2020, Donald Trump is president. We need to have a new, modern people’s pledge.”

But Markey repeatedly skirted around questions about who would decide which voices were positive.

Markey sought to play up his working-class past throughout the debate, weaving references to his family’s roots in Lawrence and Malden into responses about environmental issues and immigration.

Kennedy did not overtly play up his family’s legacy in American politics.

But he did go into Markey’s history, slamming Markey’s vote authorizing the Iraq war and his “present” vote on President Barack Obama’s Syrian force resolution.

Markey said the Bush administration presented “a false pretense. I’m still angry about that lie to the American people. It was a mistake.”

They were, however, unified in their desire to get President Trump out of office — though they both stopped short of calling him mentally unfit.

Markey said Trump “has crazy ideas,” while Kennedy said, “His actions alone disqualify him from office.”

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/2vKzDro