Republican Senate Candidate John Deaton Courts Latino Voters Ahead of Nov. 3 Massachusetts Vote

John Deaton, a Republican lawyer and Marine Corps veteran, is challenging Democratic Sen. Ed Markey in the Massachusetts Senate race on Nov. 3. Deaton describes himself as an independent who has never voted for Donald Trump, and said he would sometimes vote with Democrats and sometimes with Republicans.

Deaton said Democrats take the Latino vote for granted. He promised to add community members to his permanent team to review every bill from that perspective, and to do the same with Black and Asian communities. "If I get a seat at the table, you will have a seat at the table," Deaton said in an interview with El Planeta.

On immigration, Deaton said he rejects both open borders and mass deportations. He proposed setting objective criteria to grant legal status to people who have lived in the country for years, work or study, and have no criminal record. His proposal includes a temporary status with a three-year probation period, after which the status becomes permanent and could eventually lead to citizenship. He said a fee would be charged, ranging from $500 to $5,000, with the amount still to be determined. Deaton also backs a path to citizenship for DACA recipients who meet strict requirements, and cited President Ronald Reagan's 1986 immigration law that legalized about 2.7 million people.

Deaton opposes abolishing ICE but said the agency needs reform. He proposed limiting ICE to a model like Secure Communities, where the agency picks up undocumented people arrested by local police on felony charges, "not at Walmart, not at Home Depot, not at churches, not at restaurants." In Lawrence, Deaton said he met Latino U.S. citizens who avoid going out to eat for fear of being "harassed" by ICE. "That is completely unacceptable," he said. Markey, by contrast, has called for abolishing ICE and in January voted against funding for the agency.

Deaton said his priorities are housing, energy, health care, and vocational training. He said a starter home in Massachusetts costs $650,000, and proposed a national plan to build 5 million homes in five years on federal land, such as former military bases, with incentives for developers. On health care, his campaign says three insurers control more than 90% of the sector and proposes breaking them up. Deaton also said artificial intelligence will affect jobs like legal assistants and lawyers but not trades like electricians, welders, plumbers, and heavy equipment operators. He proposed a vocational program starting in high school, along with a GI Bill-style program for trades, offering credits and scholarships so young people can start businesses without $200,000 in university debt. For Lawrence, a city that is 82.3% Latino, he proposed tax credits and business zones with preferential tax treatment for small business owners, and said the idea would also apply to Lowell and other cities with large Latino populations.

A MassINC poll from early October gave Markey 54% and Deaton 28%. Massachusetts has not sent a Republican to the Senate since Scott Brown in 2010. Polls open Tuesday, Nov. 3.

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