Massachusetts is broken and I'm running for Senate to fix it and save its children

Massachusetts Senate candidate John Deaton explains why he is running for office to oust Sen. Elizabeth Warren on ‘Fox & Friends.’

As a poor kid growing up on the frayed edges of the most violent neighborhood in Detroit, I learned to look out for myself at an early age. A warm bed at the end of the day wasn’t a guarantee; neither a safe home.

After my father left us without as much as a goodbye, my mother cycled through boyfriends upon whom she depended to make ends meet. That didn’t stop one of them from hitting her in the head with an iron fireplace poker as I watched, horrified. I never got the chance at a sheltered childhood.

Perhaps because of my rocky upbringing, I’m proud that my home state of Massachusetts gives poor kids a chance at a sheltered childhood; at least, it tried to. Inaction, elitism, and apathy at the federal level, including from senior Bay State Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., have forced state officials into a series of excruciating choices.

Republican Senate candidate John Deaton is challenging longtime Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren in the November election. (Reuters/Fox News)

Almost invariably, the losers in those decisions have been disadvantaged children.

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Since the 1980s, the state’s "right to shelter" law has mandated that pregnant women and........

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