Letter: Political Bias

To the Editor:

Do you only report about Democrat candidates or am I missing your reporting on Republican candidates some how? The Berkshire Eagle is a left-favoring periodical that I've learned to simply ignore because of their bias. Please clarify my dilemma sooner than later.

I appreciate your efforts & overall coverage but it appears a political bias is showing itself.

Chuck D. Wright
North Adams, Mass. 

Editor's note: iBerkshires covers all local candidates and state candidates who visit Berkshire County (and let us know they're coming!) We have been focusing on the upcoming primary, which has no local Republican races. We wrote about gubernatorial candidate Geoffry Diehl and two candidates who recently came to Pittsfield. 

GOP Senatorial Candidate Deaton Pledges Independence in North Adams Campaign Stop

By Sabrina DammsiBerkshires Staff
05:31PM / Wednesday, October 28, 2026

GOP candidate John Deaton speaks to local residents about his positions during a campaign stop on Tuesday. The attorney says he's running on the GOP ticket but his stance is firmly independent.

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — U.S. Senate candidate John Deaton was in the Berkshires on Tuesday as part of a statewide listening tour to hear residents' concerns ahead of next week's election. 

 

His tour over a couple days included stops across Western Mass, including Greenfield, Pittsfield, Lee, and South Hadley.

 

Although Deaton is running as the Republican nominee against longtime Democratic incumbent Edward Markey, he said he identifies as an independent and he chose to run as a "non-Trump" Republican because he saw no viable path to victory as an independent candidate.

 

The attorney said he reached that conclusion after polling as an independent and finding that the Republican nominee was projected to receive approximately 30 percent of the vote, while the Democratic nominee was expected to receive about 40 percent.

 

"There's a lot of things we can do if you just put people over politics. I'm not going to be loyal to a person, i.e., President Trump, or anyone else … I'm not going to be loyal to a party. I'm not going to be loyal to a political agenda," he said. 

 

"I'm only going to be loyal to people and if you take that attitude, then you can work with any president. You can work with any party in power … I would just ask people to vote for the best candidate in each race. Don't go by party." 

 

Deaton kicked off his trip to Berkshire County at the North Adams American Legion where he heard from several people, particularly those expressing grievances over the North Adams Housing Authority's high rise on Ashland Street.