The candidates were asked whether or not they would support Occupy Wall Street, a grassroots protest movement that has gathered momentum in the last week with demonstrations nationwide.

Warren stopped just short of endorsing the movement, emphasizing instead that Occupy Wall Street is a symptom of widespread frustration among Americans with the state of the economy and financial institutions.

“The people on Wall Street broke this country and they did it one mortgage at a time,” Warren said. “There is still no basic accountability.”

Warren came under heat when Massie called on her to refuse to accept funding from political action committees—a particularly hot topic after the Citizens United ruling transformed campaign finance law, making it legal for organizations to support a candidate through funds from their general treasuries.

Massie said he would reverse Citizens United if elected.

Warren has largely been considered a frontrunner in the campaign after she joined the race two weeks ago. Throughout the debate her responses were met with resounding applause, though she did not appear to emerge with a definite win.

“She didn’t outshine her opponents,” said McCarthy, the Malden lawyer. “I was impressed with almost all of them.”

Several audience members wore Warren campaign stickers and said they would vote for her.

“She’s on message—a message that I agree with.” said Chris Zellner, a public high school English teacher from Bedford. “She’s got a track record of public service and as a symbol she’s fantastic.”

The debate featured all six of the Democratic candidates. Although the debate was held at UMass Lowell, the city is a largely conservative, working class town that may be difficult for Warren win over.

—Staff writer Zoe A. Y. Weinberg can be reached at zoe.weinberg@college.harvard.edu.