U.S. Senate, Massachusetts: one seat, decided by the whole state. Every line on this page is a recorded Senate vote, the candidate’s own website, or his own words in print. Tap any receipt.
Ed Markey, in the first ad of his 2020 campaign: “I drove an ice cream truck to pay for college.” That truck ran in Lexington in 1965. He was first elected to office in 1973.
Receipts
- The ice cream truck in his own words, from his first 2020 television ad (“I drove an ice cream truck to pay for college”): Boston.com, July 23, 2020. “Eddie the Ice Cream Man” and the 1965 Lexington route: Ed Markey, Wikipedia
- In elected office since 1973: Massachusetts House 1973, U.S. House 1976, U.S. Senate since a special election in June 2013: markey.senate.gov, About; the 1973 start year: Wikipedia
- Born in Malden, Massachusetts, on July 11, 1946 (age 80 in 2026): markey.senate.gov, About
Massachusetts House in 1973, the U.S. House in 1976, the Senate since 2013 — half a century of promises. Now he wants six more years.
Office
Backs a constitutional amendment “limiting service to 3 House terms and 2 Senate terms.” His line: “Tenure without results is just tenure.”
Receipts
- Markey’s career: “Elected to the Senate in a special election in June 2013”, after 37 years in the U.S. House: markey.senate.gov, About; first elected to the Massachusetts House in 1973: Wikipedia
- Deaton, the term-limits plank (“Push for a constitutional amendment limiting service to 3 House terms and 2 Senate terms”): johndeatonforsenate.com, Issues; “Tenure without results is just tenure”: johndeatonforsenate.com
Illegals over locals. On January 20, 2025 he voted against the Laken Riley Act, which requires federal detention of illegal immigrants charged with theft. It passed the Senate 64 to 35 and became law.
Border
Would “secure the border, end catch-and-release, and reform the asylum process” while expanding legal immigration — rejecting both amnesty and mass deportation.
Receipts
- Markey recorded Nay on final passage of the Laken Riley Act, S. 5: U.S. Senate roll call vote 7, January 20, 2025 (passed 64–35)
- Deaton, in his own words: johndeatonforsenate.com, Issues
In February 2019 he and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez authored the Green New Deal, a federal plan to remake the entire energy economy.
Mandates
Backs “an all-of-the-above energy transition, not a mandate that picks winners and losers by government fiat” — solar, wind, nuclear and hydro alike.
Receipts
- Markey co-authored the Green New Deal with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, released February 7, 2019: Green New Deal, Wikipedia; his own climate record: markey.senate.gov
- Deaton, in his own words: johndeatonforsenate.com, Issues. He lists wind among the sources he supports; the contrast is federal mandates versus an all-of-the-above approach, not for or against any one source.
He calls for “bold action to invest in clean energy” and new federal programs. New England already pays some of the nation’s highest electricity prices.
Electric Bill
“Families should not have to choose between keeping warm and putting food on the table.” Wants to amend the Jones Act to cut New England energy costs.
Receipts
- Markey: “bold action to invest in clean energy”: edmarkey.com, Issues
- Deaton: “Families should not have to choose between keeping warm and putting food on the table”, and Jones Act reform: johndeatonforsenate.com, Issues
Decades in the Capitol. Deaton’s charge: “Ed Markey is MIA. Rarely seen here” — “the place he’s called home since the ’70s.”
Accountability
His “Clean Hands Act” would make candidates release ten years of tax returns and end “budget gimmicks like ‘emergency’ designations to bypass caps.”
Receipts
- Deaton’s launch video: “the place he’s called home since the ’70s”: Boston Globe, November 10, 2025
- Deaton, the “Clean Hands Act” (ten years of tax returns; end “budget gimmicks like ‘emergency’ designations to bypass caps”): johndeatonforsenate.com, Issues
- For the record, Markey voted Nay on H.R. 1, the 2025 reconciliation bill (passed 50–50 on the Vice President’s tie-breaking vote): U.S. Senate roll call vote 372, July 1, 2025
As of October 5, 2026, no public response to Deaton’s debate challenge had been found.
“If Ed Markey could stand on a debate stage seven times in the middle of a pandemic, he can stand on one now.”
Receipts
- Deaton: “If Ed Markey could stand on a debate stage seven times in the middle of a pandemic, he can stand on one now” (a reference to Markey’s seven 2020 primary debates): Boston.com, September 11, 2026
- Neither markey.senate.gov nor edmarkey.com carried a public response to the debate challenge as of October 5, 2026.
Three more, straight from the Senate roll call and his own Senate office.
Receipts
- Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act, S. 9 — cloture on the motion to proceed was rejected 51–45 (60 votes were needed), and Markey voted Nay, a vote to block the bill from advancing: U.S. Senate roll call vote 100, March 3, 2025
- Markey is the lead Senate sponsor of the Transgender Bill of Rights: “Trans rights are human rights. We must ensure that every trans and gender diverse person in America can live freely, safely, and authentically.” markey.senate.gov, February 11, 2026
- Markey, an original co-sponsor of the Medicare for All Act, on a single federal health plan: “Most wealthy countries in the world provide universal health insurance coverage, except the United States. That’s just plain wrong.” markey.senate.gov, September 13, 2017
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Election Day
Votes are from the roll-call records of the United States Senate; campaign finance is from the Federal Election Commission; biography is each candidate’s own account. Quotations are trimmed for length only, never reworded. Sources were read on October 5, 2026. Photos: Markey official Senate portrait (markey.senate.gov); Deaton campaign photo (johndeatonforsenate.com).