A cryptocurrency attorney and former marine named John Deaton won Tuesday’s Republican U.S. Senate primary and will face off against longtime incumbent Sen. Elizabeth Warren as she seeks her third term in office.
Deaton has previously stated that he will “retire” Warren. He previously defeated Robert Antonellis and Ian Cain for the spot.
Who Is John Deaton?
John Deaton is a former US marine veteran, cancer survivor, trial attorney, and father to three young daughters. He is currently running for United States Senate in Massachusettes as a Republican.
Deaton has harshly criticized Waren on several topics, including regulation in the crypto industry and the migrant crisis.
Deaton Excited To Face off With Warren
In his victory speech, Deaton stated, “Only in America. Only in America. Only in America could someone like me be elected to take on one of Washington’s most entrenched elite. It is an honor to be your nominee for the United States Senate.”
“My message to the voters out there: I will end the divisiveness that pits American versus American. I will reject partisanship and bring people together and work every day for one purpose to improve the lives of regular people. I will have one test in the United States Senate: Is it good for Massachusetts and America? That’s it,” he said.
Changing the Tone in Politics
During an early pre-primary debate, he said that he wanted to usher in a positive tone to politics and government policies.
“I want to uplift people. I want to bring people up, expand the middle class, bring people out of poverty, like I brought myself out of poverty,” Deaton said, according to CBS. “I can do that without tearing people down … and [Warren] is the queen of finger-pointing politics.”
Warren’s History in the US Senate
Warren won her first race for the US Senate by beating out Republican incumbent Scott Brown in 2012.
She is the first woman ever elected to the Senate from Massachusetts and has been heralded as a positive role model for young women. She has worked as a consumer advocate and fought for the right of middle-class families to get ahead.
Warren Excited For the Debate
The next step in the race for the senate seat is two upcoming debates in October.
Warren responded to Deaton’s big victory speech on Tuesday night by commenting on her excitement about facing off on hot topics with the Republican choice.
New Campaign Efforts
Deaton also said in his press release on Tuesday that his new campaign efforts to go after Warren will begin.
“Tomorrow, we begin the next phase of the campaign — an effort that will hold Elizabeth Warren accountable for her failures on the border, the unaffordable cost of supporting a family, a broken healthcare system, abandoning our ally Israel, and restoring faith in our politics,” he said.
Debating To Help Voters Decide
He also mentioned that he would actually prefer five full debates against Warren so that the voters in Massachusetts can decide exactly where each candidate lies on the hot topics.
The topics that Deaton wants to debate Warren on are income inequality, the migrant crisis, the national debt and economy, foreign wars, and women’s reproductive rights. “We should go across the commonwealth and let the voters get a real look at both of us,” he said. “The country deserves it. Massachusetts deserves it.”
Immigration
Deaton poked at Warren directly on the issue of immigration.
“Thanks to the failed policies of and partisanship of career politicians like Elizabeth Warren, every state is now a border state, and Massachusetts is sucking the consequences,” Deaton has said.
Growing up in Poverty
One of the main markers for Deaton’s campaign is his history of growing up in poverty and his desire to create a new America where anyone from the poor or working class can get ahead.
On his website, Deaton claims that Warren wants to create a culture of dependency on the state by investing in social welfare systems. Instead, Deaton proposes to fix the broken government system like reforming the Accredited Investor rule, which excludes most Americans from being able to own private equity.
No Transparency on Abortion
So far, Deaton has not spoken much publically about abortion and has no current information on his website.
However, in a letter found on Politico from Reproductive Equality Now, Rebecca Hart Holder requested Deaton to discuss his stance openly and cites a tweet from earlier this year that states “abortion is not an issue in Massachusettes.”
Campaign Leadership Is Anti-Abortion
Despite being tight-lipped about the issue, his campaign leadership, Michael Gorecki, has tweeted numerous times about his anti-abortion stance and has compared abortion to murdering live children.
Right now, roughly 72% of Massachusetts voters believe that abortion should be easily accessible in the state.
