FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

April 8, 2026

Press Contact:

Vincent Errichetti

(617) 922-1824

Press@johndeatonforsenate.com

DEATON: MARKEY’S RECORD ON RACE IS A 50-YEAR POLITICAL CALCULATION — NOT CONVICTION

Markey fought desegregation busing when opposing it was popular in his district. He then championed Rachael Rollins, calling her, “a national leader on racial justice,” when embracing her was popular.

Now Rollins is reportedly running for office again after resigning in disgrace.

The question for every journalist covering this race: Senator Markey, do you endorse her again?

Ed Markey has spent fifty years in public life treating racial justice as a weathervane, not a compass. The record speaks for itself, and it should follow him into every interview, debate, and editorial board meeting between now and November.

When It Was Hard, Markey Said No.

During the Boston busing crisis of the 1970s and 1980s, then-Congressman Markey opposed court-ordered desegregation. He voted against integrating Black children into white classrooms at a moment when real political courage, not political calculation, was demanded. Because it was unpopular, Markey lacked the courage to do what’s right. He eventually dropped his opposition to bussing a decade later - but only after politics shifted.

This matters because busing wasn’t a peripheral policy debate. It was the front line of racial integration in Massachusetts. It was, in every meaningful sense, reparative justice in action, a concrete, court-ordered effort to dismantle a system that had deliberately segregated Black children into inferior schools. Markey fought it.

Today, that same Ed Markey supports reparations. He has co-sponsored legislation calling for a federal commission to study reparations for the descendants of enslaved Americans. He talks about systemic racism, generational harm, and the debt America owes Black communities.

Let that sink in. He opposed the actual integration of Black children into white schools when it was the law of the land and might cost him political discomfort. Now he supports reparations, when it costs him nothing and gains him everything. That is not a moral evolution. That is a man who learned which side of racial justice politics to stand on when the cameras are rolling.

When It Was Easy, Markey Said Yes: Loudly.

In 2021, Markey aggressively backed Rachael Rollins for U.S. Attorney. He called her a “national leader on racial justice and criminal justice reform” and pushed hard for her Senate confirmation. In 2020, he stood next to her at campaign events, gushing that she had “redefined what it means to be a prosecutor” and called it “humbling” to have her beside him.

Then Rachael Rollins resigned as U.S. Attorney in disgrace.

Two separate federal investigations found that Rollins leaked confidential Department of Justice information to sabotage a political opponent’s campaign and lied to investigators about it. Federal watchdogs cited her Hatch Act violations as among the most “egregious” they had ever seen. She was later publicly reprimanded by the Massachusetts state bar.

When she resigned, all Markey could manage was a bloodless joint statement saying he would “respect her decision.” Fifty years in politics and that’s the best he’s got.

Now She’s Back. And Markey Owes Massachusetts an Answer.

Rollins is reportedly preparing to run for Suffolk County District Attorney again. Which means the question Ed Markey has been allowed to avoid is now unavoidable: Do you endorse Rachael Rollins again?

Markey’s record on race isn’t a journey. It’s a transaction. When opposing school integration helped him win votes, he opposed it. When backing a Black progressive helped him win votes, he backed her enthusiastically, publicly, and relentlessly.

He calls himself a champion of racial justice, yet his actual record shows a man who supported racial justice only when it was convenient and abandoned it the moment it required something from him. That’s not a record. That’s a costume.

He didn’t champion Rachael Rollins because of her character. He championed her because of her complexion and what it did for his image. When she delivered ethics violations instead of political cover, he went silent.

Massachusetts deserves a senator whose commitment to equal justice doesn’t depend on a poll. We haven’t had one in fifty years.

I’m calling on every journalist and commentator covering the 2026 Massachusetts Senate race to press Senator Markey with three direct questions:

Does he still endorse Rachael Rollins?

Does he stand by his praise of her record?

And how does he square his support for reparations today with his opposition to court-ordered school desegregation when it actually counted?

He opposed desegregation when it was real. He supports reparations now that it’s rhetorical. The pattern is the point.

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John Deaton is a U.S. Marine veteran, trial attorney, cancer survivor, small business owner, and father of three daughters. He is running for U.S. Senate in 2026 to bring common-sense leadership to Washington. Learn more at johndeatonforsenate.com.

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