The six Democratic candidates seeking to replace U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton faced off at a debate Wednesday night, sharing their plans to address the national economy, foreign policy, corruption in government and more.

Moulton, D-6th District, announced last year that he would be challenging U.S.Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., for the seat Markey has held since 2013, leaving his own office open. The district includes most of Essex County and parts of northern Middlesex County.

The winner of the Sept. 1 Democratic primary will go on to the November general election. Only one Republican candidate, Micah Jones, is currently running to represent the 6th District.

Though the discussion at Salem State University covered a wide range of topics, it frequently returned to the issue of affordability.

Mariah Lancaster, a former State Department and U.S. House of Representatives staffer, said the government needed to tackle corporations to stop prices of basic necessities from rising.

Lancaster, who uses they/them pronouns, said if elected, they would like to work on antitrust legislation and breaking up monopolies.

“Companies ... are destroying our economy by consuming every ounce of dollars that they can get into, whether it’s by dynamically pricing at grocery stores or making sure that they’re tracking whether or not you had a death in the family so they can raise the price of your airline tickets,” Lancaster said. “All of these are things that companies are doing because they have gotten too big by consuming each other.”

Full article here