Senate candidates Gabriel Gomez of Cohasset, Republican, and Ed Markey of Malden, Democrat, faced off on Wednesday in a fiery debate on gun control, immigration reform, Romneycare, and, yes, Hillary Clinton.
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The debate lasted about an hour and immediately started with a discussion of each candidate's character, and then quickly moved on to one of the hottest political topics of the moment - gun control.
Gomez, running on the foundation that he is a "new kind" of Republican, denounced Markey's reference associating his conservative beliefs regarding gun control with the Newtown massacre that took place last year.
Gomez called it "beyond disgusting" that Markey would use the sensitive moment in recent history to his advantage, marking Markey as "the first candidate to evoke the Newtown massacre for political gain."
Markey contested he was not linking Gomez to Newtown, instead he was trying to drive the point home that the NRA - which Gomez supports - stands for "not relevant anymore," saying that he wants Massachusetts to be the leader on legislation regarding an assault weapons ban, not the follower.
Later in the debate, the conversation moved into the Benghazi hearings placing former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at the center of it all.
Markey claimed the hearings are just part of a bigger conservative scheme to hurt the reputations of certain democrats, especially Clinton who has been rumored to be considering a presidential run in 2016.
"We can't allow this to be turned into a political attempt to just get at Hillary Clinton, rather than the facts of what happened," Markey said. "You and the Republicans down in Congress are trying to use these issues for short-term political gain."
Markey, with over 30 years experience, is the favored candidate, while Gomez us still relatively unknown in Massachusetts politics.
Running in a special election creates the possibility for low turn-out, that may lead to a potential upset. The special election is scheduled to take place in less than 20 days, on June 25.
