Three initial takeaways from the first Warren/Deaton debate

In a jam-packed debate, Sen. Elizabeth Warren and John Deaton laid out their positions on immigration reform, the MCAS exam, and the lack of affordable housing in Massachusetts.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren and her Republican challenger, John Deaton, met Tuesday night for the first of two planned debates ahead of election day.

Throughout the course of the hourlong debate, which was co-sponsored by WBZ-TV and The Boston Globe, Warren and Deaton traded barbs and fleshed out their positions on a number of key issues, from housing to healthcare and foreign policy.

Deaton sought to portray himself as a moderate outsider, willing to disrupt the status quo in Washington as a Republican not loyal to former President Donald Trump. Warren told the audience not to trust Deaton, linking him to Trump policies unpopular in deep-blue Massachusetts while touting her work in congress and willingness to reach across the aisle.

The two will meet again on Thursday night. In the meantime, here are three takeaways from major topics that Warren and Deaton debated.

Immigration takes center stage

The topic of immigration is factoring heavily into the presidential race, and it loomed large over the debate between Deaton and Warren.

Deaton said that immigration is the issue that separates him from Warren more than any other. The rise in migrants coming to the U.S. has resulted in both a “national security crisis” and a “humanitarian crisis,” he said, while casting his opponent as an “extreme” left-wing politician who supports “open borders.”

Deaton attacked Warren for not supporting the recent bipartisan border bill, which would have enacted tougher immigration policies but was killed by congressional Republicans at the behest of Trump. Deaton has said he would have voted for the bill, even though it “wasn’t perfect.”

Warren countered by saying that she did not “buy a ticket on a boat that Donald Trump had already sunk.” It was clear that the bill was dead and that Republican support had been pulled by the time she had a chance to cast her vote, Warren said.

The senator acknowledged that a lack of immigration reform is putting real stress on Massachusetts, but criticized Trump’s playbook of demonizing migrants and the willingness of congressional Republicans to kill the bill so that Trump could run on the issue. While Deaton doesn’t regurgitate Trump’s since-debunked claims about Haitian migrants eating pets, Warren said that Deaton “is taking a page out of the same playbook.”

Deaton clarified that he does not support Trump’s stated plan to carry out mass deportations of migrants, but said that there is a place for some deportations and that there are serious national security concerns even if one assumes that only one percent of illegal migrants coming into the country are “bad guys.”

Warren said she wants to see “comprehensive” immigration reform that fully reimburses individual states on what they are spending to accommodate migrants.

A divide over MCAS

This year, Massachusetts voters are being asked to weigh whether or not scores on the standardized MCAS test should continue to be used as a high school graduation requirement. When asked how they would vote on Question 2, Warren and Deaton were in sharp contrast on a topic that could have massive ramifications for one of the country’s top public education systems.

Deaton said he will be voting against the measure, adding that it would disproportionately harm students from the “inner city” and cause chaos by making it so that every school district has a different set of standards by which to measure students.

“We can’t have 351 standards,” Deaton said. “If you don’t have the MCAS and you have no standards, you’re going to get people graduating from high school that can’t fully speak English now in this state, and that puts them at a disadvantage.”

Deaton floated the idea of giving tax credits to teachers who “go into the inner cities to teach” and claimed that passing Question 2 would be the equivalent of “abandoning” the students there.

Warren said she would be voting “yes” on Question 2, raising concerns about students with special needs and those in the process of learning English being disproportionately kept from receiving their diplomas because of insufficient MCAS scores. She said the state’s elite education system is not because of MCAS, but because of its teachers and public support for them. Due to the existing requirements, these educators are teaching students more about test-taking skills than the actual topics that are most important, she argued.

Deaton said it boiled down to an old mantra: “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” It makes no sense to change the state’s education system if it is already one of the nation’s best, he said.

“I believe it’s our teachers who are producing this system,” Warren said in response. “They’re the ones on the ground, with our kids, and they’re the ones who are telling us just how miserable this test is making life for many of our kids and for many of our teachers.”

How to fix housing

Massachusetts officials from across the political spectrum agree that the cost of living in the state is too high. When asked how best to fix that issue Warren and Deaton offered competing visions.

The problem, according to Warren, is simple: a lack of housing supply. Warren echoed Vice President Kamala Harris’s plan to build 3 million houses across the country, which would include “tens of thousands” in Massachusetts. To decrease housing prices and help first time buyers secure a new home, Warren said she would support raising taxes on billionaires to invest in building more housing.

Deaton claimed Warren’s plans are not financially feasible in Massachusetts, at least in Greater Boston. He agreed that the core of the issue is a “supply problem,” but said that builders have told him about how difficult it is to get the permits necessary for construction on new homes. He said he supports tax credits for low-income families and renters to help them secure housing.

Deaton also said he wants to incentivize builders to build and that “the private sector can do it.”

“That’s what they’ve been saying for decades now, and the price goes up, and up, and up,” Warren said in response to Deaton’s reference to the private sector. She said that cutting regulations, as Deaton supports, could be a part of the solution, but local leaders need to be equal partners and they can decide how best to manage regulations in their communities.

Staff Writer

Ross Cristantiello, a general assignment news reporter for Boston.com since 2022, covers local politics, crime, the environment, and more.