Vowing to fix “a broken system,” Republican John Deaton returned to the political arena on Monday night, launching a bid for U.S. Senate in 2026 that he says will disrupt the status quo, bring down costs and make one of the most expensive states in the union affordable again.

“I got in this race because Massachusetts is in trouble,” Deaton, 58, of Swansea, told a crowd of several hundred supporters at Off the Rails, a Worcester restaurant.

Deaton’s target: Veteran U.S. Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., who’s spent a half-century on Capitol Hill, and remains the polling favorite to capture the Democratic nomination next year.

Pointing to the rising cost of everything from groceries and natural gas to rent and electricity, Deaton argued that Markey, who first entered public life when he was in e

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