Massachusetts 2020 Democratic Senate Debate

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The UMass Amherst School of Public Policy will co-sponsor a debate between the two candidates for the Democratic nomination for the US Senate from Massachusetts, incumbent Senator Edward Markey and challenger Joseph Kennedy III, US Representative for Massachusetts's 4th congressional district. The two candidates will face off in a September 1 primary election.

The live debate takes place on June 1 at 7 p.m. and will be broadcast from the Western Mass News studio in Springfield. It was also be live-streamed on the UMass Amherst website.

Students from the School of Public Policy have been invited to submit questions for the candidates, which will be prerecorded and inserted into the broadcast.

“We’re excited to have our students play an important role in this event,” said School of Public Policy Director Alasdair Roberts. “Promoting informed discussions about critical issues of public policy is a key part of SPP’s mission.”

The Senate debate will be moderated by Dave Madsen, Western Mass News anchor; Bob Oakes, host of WBUR’s Morning Edition; Boston Globe columnist Adrian Walker; and WCVB On the Record anchor Janet Wu.

The debate is hosted by Western Mass News, the McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies at UMass Boston, Western Mass News, WBUR, the Boston Globe, and WCVB. In addition to the UMass Amherst School of Public Policy, cosponsors include MassLive, the Springfield Republican, Entravision, New England Public Radio, NEWS10 ABC in Albany, and NBC 10 WJAR in Providence.