After falling short in the race against longtime Democratic Senator Ed Markey, Republican John Deaton addressed the media and his supporters, expressing his gratitude with tears in his eyes.
Deaton and his team arrived at the Union Brew House in Weymouth Tuesday night just before polls closed.
He spoke with Boston 25 crews as he got off his campaign bus moments before polls in Massachusetts closed.
“I just couldn’t lie,” he said. “I couldn’t stand on stage and do what Seth Moulton did over the Epstein files, what he was suggesting. I never could do that. To win? To win a few votes? I couldn’t do what Ed Markey does, to lie like it’s nothing. I just couldn’t do it. So I said, ‘I don’t know if I’m meant for [politics].’”
He added, “I’ll be really disappointed for [my supporters] because they’re going to be heartbroken. I’m going to be fine... The fact that I have a bus with my name on it and my face on it and all of you great people asking me questions, if that’s not the embodiment of the American dream, I don’t know what is.”
Moments later, his supporters circled around the Union Brew House bar to hear Deaton’s remarks after projections came out pointing towards Markey’s reelection.
He told Boston 25 that he likely will not run for Senate again in the future.
“They said it was impossible. I still wanted to test that,” he said. “People are losing hope out there, and I just hope our elected leaders start doing the right thing. You have more in common with your neighbor who voted differently than you in the presidential election than most people .”
He finished, “America is the greatest country in this world, and I hope our elected leaders start acting like it.”
Deaton said he hopes Markey focuses on important issues rather than party in his next term.
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