Gomez, Markey Grapple in Final Senate Debate
Gabriel Gomez and Edward Markey spent their final debate before next week’s U.S. Senate special election clashing over their records and who has the better vision for both their commonwealth and their country. The debate, taped in Boston, broadcast on several local networks and moderated by veteran city newsman and Boston University professor R.D. Sahl, was the last of three contests before voters head to the polls to fill U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry’s former seat. No matter the issue, be it taxes, gun control, abortion, national security and their own personal and professional histories, the two men found disagreements at every turn. Each candidate could agree on one thing: they believe the other candidate’s ideas are “old and stale.” Markey, a Democratic congressman from Malden since 1976, went after Gomez, a former U.S. Navy SEAL and businessman from Cohasset, about not disclosing his clients from his time working at private equity firm Advent International. “We don’t know who he worked for,” Markey said. “We have to know who’s side he’s going to be on.” Gomez corrected Markey, saying his firm didn’t have clients but actually had investors. Among his investors: President Barack Obama, among many other public sector employees. “President Obama would not be an investor if we weren’t $ 17 trillion in debt,” said Gomez, who mentioned several times that the nation debt has swelled from $ 670 billion to $ 17 trillion since Markey took office. Gomez has been a champion of term limits for members of Congress, but was challenged by Markey, who asserted that Gomez surely didn’t tell Arizona Sen. John McCain he shouldn’t run for his seat again when the former presidential candidate came to campaign for him recently. Gomez said he had, in fact, told McCain that he should be term-limited. Markey simply could not believe that was true. “Are you calling him a liar?” Sahl asked. “I’m saying that did not happen,” Markey said. Within that exchange, Gomez listed a number of areas where he believes his party is wrong right now, including immigration, gay marriage, expanded background checks for firearms sales, the environment and global warming. “Nothing’s going to change if Mr. Markey wins this election,” Gomez said. “We’re going to have the same D.C. down there and we’re going to have the same dysfunction.” On gun control, Markey asked Gomez why he opposed a ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines and where a civilian would “need a weapon where they could shoot a gun with 100 bullets in under 2 minutes.” Gomez said Markey was “completely misrepresenting my position” on gun control and claimed […]
Gomez, Markey Set For Final Senate Debate
Another U.S. Senate election for Massachusetts is drawing to a close, with the two combatants set to square off one final time before voters head to the polls June 25. Democratic Congressman Edward Markey of Malden and Republican businessman and former U.S. Navy SEAL Gabriel Gomez will hold the last of three debates Tuesday evening in the race to fill the seat formerly held by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. The debate will air live from 7 to 8 p.m. on WCVB (Channel 5). The debate will be moderated by R.D. Sahl of Boston University. The two previous debates for the candidates were held in Boston and Springfield. Recent polling has suggested an edge for Markey in the race. Both candidates have received visits from high-profile supporters with Gomez welcoming former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani while Markey had both President Barack Obama and former President Bill Clinton stumping for him last week. SOUTH END PATCH: Facebook | Twitter | E-mail Updates South End Patch
Markey or Gomez: Who Gets Your Vote?
A week from Tuesday, Massachusetts voters will decide who to elect in the special election to fill the seat vacated by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. What we at Patch want to know is – if the election was today – who would you vote for? Candidates Democrat Ed Markey and Republican Gabriel Gomez have been pullling out all the stops in the last two weeks as the latest polls show the gap is narrowing between the two. After weeks of relative quiet, the negative ads have started to clog the airways and both candidates have had high-profile folks stumping for them. Rudy Guiliani was in town last week putting his support behind Gomez and President Obama came to Boston this week showing his support for Markey. So tell us, if you had to vote today who would be your choice, Markey or Gomez? Tell us in the comments section below. South End Patch
Gomez, Markey Spar in First Senate Debate
Gabriel Gomez and Edward Markey engaged Wednesday in their first debate before the U.S. Senate special election this month, and the tone was markedly similar to the tone of the overall campaign thus far. Gomez, the Republican Cohasset businessman and former U.S. Navy SEAL, and Markey, the Democratic Malden congressman since his election in 1976, jabbed at each other during the hour-long debate at WBZ-TV’s studios and sponsored by the news station and the Boston Globe. Topics for the evening included gun control, health care, the economy, foreign policy, recent national political scandals, immigration and abortion. Time and again, Gomez pounded Markey for his years in Washington, painting the congressman as out of touch with Bay State citizens. “You are the poster boy for term limits,” Gomez said to Markey, claiming Markey hasn’t authored any legislation in 20 years. “In the private sector if you don’t do your job you don’t get a pay raise.” Markey said Gomez was espousing “the same old stale Republican ideas” and tried listing his own legislative accomplishments when attacked by Gomez. “I can go on, and on, and on with the number of laws that I am the author of, that I am the principle author of,” said Markey, calling Gomez’s line of attack “mythology.” Early on the candidates went back and forth on gun control, with Markey hitting Gomez for not supporting bans on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. “Massachusetts is the leader, not the laggard on the issue of gun control,” Markey said. Gomez stated support for increased background checks but slammed Markey for invoking the shootings last year at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. for “political gain,” calling it “beyond disgusting.” When discussing the impacts of the Affordable Care Act, Gomez said small business owners in Massachusetts are worried about its costs. Gomez said Markey didn’t support rolling back the tax in the bill on medical devices that impacts over 25,000 employees in the state. Markey said he would support taking out the tax if there was an offset somewhere else, saying he would reduce tax breaks received by oil companies to do so. “That’s the way you have to legislate,” he said. When discussing the recent scandals that have rocked Washington in recent weeks, Gomez called on U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to resign for the “chilling” seizing of records for reporters. On the topic of Internal Revenue Service employees targeting conservative groups, Markey said “anyone who did anything wrong at IRS should be found and fired immediately.” But on the investigation into the September 2012 attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Markey […]
Gomez, Markey to Square Off in First Debate
The Republican and Democratic candidates for the U.S. Senate special election later this month are set to conduct their first of three scheduled debates Wednesday night. According to an Associated Press article printed in the Boston Herald Monday, Republican businessman Gabriel Gomez of Cohasset and Democratic Congressman Edward Markey of Malden will debate at the WBZ-TV studios Wednesday in a debate sponsored by the TV station and the Boston Globe. WBZ previously reported the debate will take place and air live from 7 to 8 p.m. WBZ political analyst Jon Keller will moderate. According to the Herald, subsequent debates will take place on June 11 in western Massachusetts and June 18 back in Boston. The campaigns reportedly spent weeks “wrangling” over the time and number for the debates. The election will be held June 25 to fill the seat vacated by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. SOUTH END PATCH: Facebook | Twitter | E-mail Updates South End Patch
Markey or Gomez: Who Would You Vote for Today?
After months of campaigning we now know who is going head to head in the June 25 special U.S. Senate election. Democratic Congressman Edward Markey (D-Malden) took the Democratic vote in the Tuesday election over fellow Congressman Stephen Lynch (D-South Boston). Political newcomer and former U.S. Navy SEAL Gabriel Gomez of Cohasset came out on top of a field of Republican candidates – including more seasoned opponents former U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan and State Rep. Dan Winslow of Norfolk. With a month and a half of campaigning still to come we wanted to stop and ask you this question. If the Special Election were today – who would you vote for right now? Markey or Gomez? Tell us in our comments section below. South End Patch
State House News Service Weekly Roundup: Enter Gomez
In case voters weren’t paying attention, and turnout suggested many weren’t, his name is Gabriel Gomez. And now only Ed Markey stands between him and the United States Senate. “My name is Gabriel Gomez, and I’m a proud Republican,” Gomez said, reciting his full name for the second time during a five-minute chat with reporters outside the new go-to, post-election Broadway T stop in South Boston Wednesday morning. The reporters already knew who he was, but part of Gomez’s strategy now is to make sure everybody else does too. The newly minted face of the Republican Party captured the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate on Tuesday by defeating two better known names in Massachusetts Republican politics. Former U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan was supposed to be the favorite, and Rep. Daniel Winslow has been active since his days with the Romney administration. But it was Gomez who easily prevailed by a margin of more than 28,000 votes over runner-up Sullivan. He also considerably outspent both his primary opponents, tapping into his own bank account for $ 600,000 to get to the general election. Now, with a seat up for grabs in the U.S. Senate, the national money should start to flow. Click here to subscribe to MASSterlist, a free morning newsletter by State House News Service that highlights political news from a wide array of newspapers and journals in Massachusetts and New England On the Democratic side, Markey rolled fairly easily to the nomination over delegation-mate U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch. After 36 years in the House and a few flirtations with trying move up, Markey stands on the cusp of filling John Kerry’s (and Mo Cowan’s) shoes. If Markey is something old and blue, Gomez is new and borrowing some pages from the Scott Brown playbook, with a twist. Both are young and photogenic with military backgrounds – Brown’s a colonel in the JAG Corps of the Army National Guard, Gomez was a Navy SEAL. Brown had political experience from his days in the state Legislature when he ran against Attorney General Martha Coakley in 2010. Gomez lost a bid for selectman in Cohasset, but has more business experience and personal wealth than Brown. And just as Brown tapped into the national Tea Party angst at the time to open a spigot of financial resources, Gomez is positioned well to take advantage of his Colombian heritage and the GOP’s post-2012 realization that the growing Hispanic voting bloc, concerned about middle class issues as well as immigration, can no longer be ignored. Massachusetts Democrats say they cleaned up last election cycle among ethnic minorities and will likely have a rebuttal to Gomez’s appeal to Hispanic voters. Public Policy Polling released […]
Gomez to Face Markey in Senate Election
A political newcomer will face a long-time Massachusetts politician in the race to be the Bay State’s next U.S. senator. The Associated Press has declared Republican businessman and former U.S. Navy SEAL Gabriel Gomez of Cohasset and Democratic U.S. Congressman Edward Markey of Malden the winners of their U.S. Senate special primary elections, according to tweets from Fox 25. The call for Gomez came approximately one hour after the polls closed in the statewide primary while a call for Markey came moments later. Gomez defeats his more seasoned opponents, former U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan of Abington and state Rep. Dan Winslow of Norfolk. Markey beat fellow U.S. Congressman Stephen Lynch of South Boston. Brett Rhyne of Needham ran an unsuccessful bid as write-in candidate. The general election will be held June 25. South End Patch