DEDHAM — When US Senator Ed Markey and US Representative Seth Moulton faced off in their first primary debate last month, the two traded barbs in between the words “with respect” a dozen or so times.
During their second meeting Monday, they all but dropped the veil.
The hourlong US Senate debate featured tit-for-tat exchanges over who’s been in Washington for important votes, laughs of disbelief at assertions about the other’s records, and continued discourse on Markey’s age. (He turned 80 since the last time they faced off.)
Notably, the debate — held a month out from the Sept. 1 primary — also featured an apology from Moulton to transgender children whom he invoked after Democrats’ 2024 election losses in a New York Times interview, when he said he would not want his two young daughters “getting run over on a playing field by a male or formerly male athlete.”
Markey has repeatedly thrown the comments back at the Salem Democrat, who in the days and months afterward said the backlash he received “proves my point” about Democrats’ inability to debate difficult issues.
“To the trans community feeling the weight and the pain of the Trump administration policies, I deeply recognize your trauma, and I’m sorry if my comments hurt you,” Moulton said Monday. “If you’re in the trans community or you’re a trans kid feeling the weight of the Trump administration and the Supreme Court, you matter, you’re valued, and I will always have your back.”
The pair’s latest showdown, moderated by GBH News’s Adam Reilly and Boston 25’s Kerry Kavanaugh, took place as tensions between the two campaigns have intensified, even as attention on the race perhaps has not.
This intraparty fight has made few waves nationwide, as national Democrats remain far more focused on more competitive primaries in places such as Michigan and Minnesota. The matchup has also disappointed some local progressives who have turned their attention to other congressional and Massachusetts State House races.
But that limited outside interest didn’t deter the two from trading fire Monday, with both turning questions about their respective records into opportunities to attack — and repeatedly accusing the other of lying.
Moulton at one point made a vague claim that Markey appeared in files related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Markey, like other Democrats, had for months called on the Trump administration to release the so-called Epstein files.
Asked by Reilly to provide “more specifics,” Moulton charged that Markey had links to “one of Epstein’s pals,” without providing a name. Moulton’s campaign later released a timeline it said showed Markey’s inclusion in the filings, which appeared to be limited to a few ambiguous mentions and nothing directly tying Markey to Epstein.
Markey called the assertions “reprehensible.”
“I have never had any relationship with Epstein,” Markey said. “I have no business with him. And what you’re saying right now is actually the worst of the playbook of distraction and character assassination.”
After the debate, Markey accused Moulton of “channeling Senator Joseph McCarthy tonight, in making reprehensible charges, unethical charges, desperate charges from a desperate man in a campaign.”
Moulton, meanwhile, called Markey “sexist” after Markey returned to attacks about Moulton’s investments in the defense sector, assets which Moulton said were largely funded by his wife’s income and which he has since put in a blind trust. The two also sparred several times over votes related to military spending and wars in Iraq and Iran.
“Senator Markey, I have seen Americans lose their lives because of your vote to send us to war in Iraq,” Moulton said, referring to the 2002 Iraq War Resolution, which Markey supported as a House representative but has since said he regrets. Moulton, a former Marine, served four tours in Iraq. “Do not question my commitment to peace in the Middle East.”
At one point, Markey appeared to momentarily mix up the ongoing war with Iran with the Vietnam War, which took place several decades prior, saying that Moulton “voted for a $1 trillion budget for a war in Vietnam — a war in Iran."
Amid questions about his age, Markey said he would step down if he could no longer effectively serve. The incumbent senator has served in Congress since 1976 and held his US Senate seat in Massachusetts since 2013.
“I would step down,” Markey said. “But Congressman Moulton should step down. Any public official should step down if they cannot serve. That is a responsibility. ... You have to serve the public.”
Moulton said during the debate that he would support term limits and age limits on serving in Congress; he emphasized that his argument is less about Markey’s age and more about the time he has spent in the Senate.
“People ought to ask, what are you going to accomplish in the next six years that you haven’t been able to accomplish in the last 50?” he said.
Markey, meanwhile, is counting on the progressive mantle he took up during his successful 2020 primary to buoy him to victory by trying to emphasize gaps between the two. He boasted about a 2022 climate bill and called for an end to the war in Iran to bring down energy costs. He said he is the only candidate who supports Medicare for All.
Despite the snipes, however, the two again appeared to agree on many more policies than they don’t. That list includes bringing down energy costs, opposing data centers without local support, regulating artificial intelligence, and sending money to communities that experience outsized climate change effects.
On immigration, both have proposed abolishing the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. Their argument during Monday’s debate instead centered on who called to do so first.
And they seemed to have some agreement on another point: New leadership in the Senate. Asked about who should be the next Democratic Senate leader, Moulton reiterated his pitch to oust current Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer. But Markey, who has previously backed Schumer, also didn’t endorse his current leader.
“We need a big debate about new leadership in the Senate, the direction of the Senate,” Markey said.
Anjali Huynh can be reached at anjali.huynh@globe.com. Samantha J. Gross can be reached at samantha.gross@globe.com. Follow her @samanthajgross.