Kennedy, Markey get personal in fiery U.S. Senate debate

U.S. Sen. Edward Markey and U.S. Rep. Joseph Kennedy III left it all on the floor in a fiery debate Tuesday that marked one of their last opportunities to sway voters in their high-profile clash with ballots already being cast.

The rivals leveled some of their sharpest attacks yet in the hourlong bout that began with jabs over their records on racial issues and criminal justice but soon grew deeply personal.

Markey went on a tirade against the negative ads launched by Kennedy’s campaign and by a pro-Kennedy Super PAC, accusing his challenger of allowing his twin brother and father to dump money into the effort and attempting to force Kennedy to tell them to stop — though coordinating with a Super PAC is a campaign finance violation.

“All I want him to do is tell his father to stop spending money on negative commercials,” Markey said. “The congressman is running a relentlessly negative campaign, which I do not think is good for Massachusetts.”

But the congressman shut down that line of attack by bringing up an example of the dozens of death threats his campaign says it has reported to Capitol Police for investigation.

“Your campaign supporters have put out tweets and have bullied my supporters — have put out tweets saying that Lee Harvey (Oswald) got the wrong Kennedy … and not a word coming from you, so cut the negative campaigning.”

A stunned-looking Markey responded, “I obviously would never at any time accept anyone saying that about your family. No one affiliated with my campaign would ever saying anything like that.”

Kennedy spent large chunks of the debate on the offensive, at one point accusing Markey of glomming onto issues like Medicare for All that are the cornerstone of the progressive movement burnished U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders.

“The idea that you are somehow leading that same movement … is just not the case,” Kennedy said. “You’re not out there in every corner of our country galvanizing those forces to actually bring this to pass.”

Markey fired back by citing the Green New Deal he co-sponsored with U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as building a movement of its own — one that has now turned out progressive groups in droves to support the incumbent.

The rivals tussled again over a recent video from one of the congressman’s supporters, Danroy Henry Sr., who slammed the senator for failing to help his family seek justice for the police killing of his son, D.J. Henry, a decade ago.

Both pols punted on whether they would support a person of color mounting a challenge to Boston Mayor Martin Walsh next year. And they both advocated for more housing opportunities for minorities in the suburbs.

Tuesday’s debate fell at a crucial time with the race essentially in a dead heat with voting underway.

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