Democrat Ed Markey and Republican Gabriel Gomez won their primaries in Tuesday’s Senate special election. The GOP hopes Gomez is the future they've been looking for.
Low turnout didn’t produce any surprises in the Bay State, with Democrat Ed Markey and Republican Gabriel Gomez racking up expected wins in Tuesday’s Senate special election primary.
After trouncing their competition, the two men will now face off on June 25 for the right to succeed former Secretary of State John Kerry in the Senate. Markey, a 36-year congressional veteran, enters the two-month stretch as the favorite in the Democratic state, but Republicans like their chances with the newcomer Gomez, a former Navy SEAL.
The AP called the race for both around 9 p.m. ET–just an hour after polls closed. In the Democratic primary, Markey was leading Rep. Stephen Lynch 58% to 42%. On the GOP side, Gomez won the three-way race with 51%, besting former U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan (36 percent) and state Rep. Daniel Winslow (13 percent).
The primary races in the Bay State had never gained much political steam–even being overshadowed by a sudden and more intriguing open Boston mayor’s office–but the Boston Marathon bombings pushed the race off the front pages and out of the public’s thoughts. Candidates on both sides took down their ads, and campaigning paused for nearly a week until the massive manhunt concluded.
On the Democratic side, Lynch tried to make up ground, coming out aggressively in last week’s final debates and hitting Markey over national security votes. But the lead Markey had amassed, with the help of the backing from nearly all of the state and national party establishment, never evaporated.
FOR SUBSCRIBERSA harrowing ordeal aboard an Israel-bound plane
FOR SUBSCRIBERSThe debate over AI’s future rages on both coasts
On the GOP side, Gomez had the cash edge and took advantage of a fluid race, but also worked to portray himself as the face of a changing GOP. A super PAC from former Mitt Romney top aide Eric Fehrnstrom also ran ads on his behalf, and in the race’s closing days, it became obvious Gomez was the one to beat.
FOR SUBSCRIBERSA harrowing ordeal aboard an Israel-bound plane
FOR SUBSCRIBERSThe debate over AI’s future rages on both coasts
National Republicans were not-so-secretly rooting for Gomez, and while they know it’s an uphill slog and Markey will need significant stumbles if they are to even come close to replicating Republican Scott Brown’s 2010 upset win over Democrat Martha Coakley, this is a race the Senate GOP is watching closely. And it’s one that Democrats don’t want to cede with unforced errors again. Still, it’s only because the moderate, Hispanic, young Gomez emerged that this is even a race. This is still Massachusetts so the Democrat is likely to win–but it’s still a race that’s worth watching.
Earlier today on s website, we took a look at why:
If it is Gomez who does emerge, national Republicans don’t believe they’re automatically down for the count despite the state’s significant Democratic tilt. If nothing else, showcasing Gomez gives them a top candidate with a profile they badly need to replicate across the country–a young, Hispanic moderate.Gomez, 47, is the son of Colombian immigrants and learned English as a second language. He attended the U.S. Naval Academy and became a pilot and later a Navy SEAL. After leaving the Navy, he received his MBA from Harvard Business School and went to work for Boston-based investment company Advent International.A fiscal conservative, Gomez is more moderate on social issues, though that hasn’t been his focus. He supports gay marriage as a state decision, and while personally opposed to abortion, he hasn’t made overturning Roe v. Wade a key point.However, that moderation, and seeming over-eagerness, could hurt him. His fellow Republicans have attacked him for seeking the temporary Senate appointment earlier this year, writing to Democratic Gov. Deval Patrick that he would support President Obama on guns and immigration. Gomez has said he favors expanded background checks, but not an assault weapons ban….To be sure, this race is far from the brewing upset that was Brown’s shocking defeat of Democrat Martha Coakley in early 2010… Scott Brown’s win was like lightning in a bottle–there’s no national wave against Democrats, no Obamacare for the GOP to rally against, and while Markey hasn’t run the most impressive of campaigns, he hasn’t had damaging gaffes like Coakley did.But it’s only if Gomez is the victor that national Republicans would take a second look at this contest, and Democratic pressure on Markey to perform up to par increases even more.Even if Gomez wins and ultimately does fall short, if he runs an impressive campaign, expect his name to pop up for other offices in the Bay State–maybe even a 2014 rematch with Markey, when the seat is regularly scheduled to be up.For Republicans, boosting Gomez may be a win-win even if it’s not a win at the ballot box on June 25.