Markey, O’Connor clash in debate
Argue over masks, courts
The coronavirus took center stage in the sole debate between
U.S. Sen. Edward Markey and Republican challenger Kevin O’Connor, who sparred over the need for a mask mandate before clashing over the Supreme Court.
The opponents were asked by GBH moderators Jim Braude and Margery Eagan whether they supported a mask mandate as the virus continues to rage in Massachusetts and across the nation.
“I don’t support a mandate,” said O’Connor, whose father was sickened by the virus and whose cousin died of it. “There are appropriate guidelines that people should follow. And certainly within confined spaces, yes, then I think it’s appropriate to regulate what’s going on.” But O’Connor argued that “all contact is not equal.”
Markey supports a mask mandate, which he called “consistent with all the public health guidelines” advocated for by medical experts.
O’Connor then sparred with the moderators, saying GBH’s decision less than two hours be
fore the debate to put the candidates in different studios “are not consistent with any guidelines.”
Braude countered that “our view is the world changed on Friday” when President Trump announced he had been diagnosed with COVID-19.
The change came after much ado over testing between the two campaigns in the run-up to the debate. Markey’s team released a statement Sunday saying he had tested negative for COVID-19. O’Connor’s campaign would not confirm to the Herald if he had been tested.
GBH did not require the candidates to be tested as part of the ground rules of the debate. Neither Markey nor Democratic primary challenger U.S. Rep. Joseph Kennedy III disclosed results of any coronavirus tests before their debates this year.
From their separate studios Monday evening, the candidates also sparred over Markey’s call to give people $2,000 a month for the duration of the coronavirus crisis, funded in part by repealing Trump’s tax cuts.
O’Connor blasted the plan as a “grossly irresponsible proposal” and said Markey “throughout this campaign has proposed these free lunch programs that are totally unaffordable that will bankrupt future generations.”
The candidates sought to highlight their stark ideological differences as the debate wore on. Markey blasted O’Connor as a “Donald Trump Republican” who doesn’t wear a mask in public.
O’Connor slammed the progressive incumbent for wanting to expand the Supreme Court in response to Trump and Republicans’ rush to confirm federal appeals court Judge Amy Coney Barrett to succeed the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
“He’s outside the mainstream of his own party, let alone common sense,” O’Connor said.
Polling in the Senate race has been scant with a month until Election Day. A recent survey of 907 likely Massachusetts voters conducted by Remington Research Group and paid for by the O’Connor campaign showed the Republican trailing by 10 points.