Markey vs Gomez: Will Central Mass Voters Unify Behind Them?

Thursday, May 02, 2013

Ashley Klann, GoLocalWorcester Contributor

With Democratic candidate Ed Markey set to face off with GOP newcomer, Gabriel Gomez, questions are already brewing as to how these two pols will fare in Central Mass. The pre-primary contention between party members was tough, but two candidates emerged.

Read what local pundits and professors have to say about how the Mass. parties will rally behind their nominee and what steps it will take to get them to the finish line.

Reuniting Dems

Even before a Democratic victory was named, the Massachusetts Democratic Party was already announcing an attempt to unify the state party. Chair John Walsh said, “Ed Markey has been a champion for the people of Massachusetts on critically-important issues such as fighting for gun safety, job creation and lifting the middle class. I congratulate him and Stephen Lynch who ran a strong and passionate campaign.”

While Republicans charge that Markey’s selection shows the party to be one-track minded in terms of the type of candidate they try to elect, Clark professor of politics, Mark Miller says that local Dems will have no problem shifting to support Markey.

“I don’t think Democrats will have any problem unifying behind Congressman Markey. Democrats are especially aware of the special election that resulted in sending Scott Brown to Washington,” he said. “They will do everything they can to prevent Gomez from pulling off a similar upset.”

With that kind of loss still looming in the air, Robert Boatright, Clark professor of politics, said he agrees that Dems will show strong unification.

“I don’t think that will be a problem. Some Republicans have claimed that Markey is the weaker general election candidates, but I wouldn’t put much stock in that,” he said. “Markey has deeper support than Lynch and I’d be surprised if any the more powerful Lynch supporters (i.e. unions) don’t quickly turn around and support Markey. Really the only wild card here is if outside groups get involved. Otherwise it will continue to be a sleepy race.”

Time will tell if financial swings come into play, but after the primary, some local Dems are going to have to deal with the sting of defeat.

Local Pols Who Went For Lynch

GoLocalWorcester polled local left-leaning pols in City Council and state offices to see which Dem they were pulling for, and some were on the losing side.

City Councilor Kate Toomey pulled strong for Lynch and had only good things to say about the candidate when asked her opinion in February.

“I have had great rapport with him. He has come to Worcester on many occasions and understands the issues that affect urban areas, like Worcester,” she said. “He is a hard working person who put himself through law school. He came up the hard way, and I have to respect him for that,” she said. “He’s been a friend to Worcester.”

State Representative John Binienda (D-17th Worcester District) said his friend of many years, Stephen Lynch, was clearly the better candidate.

“Number one, he’s a working man. He’s an iron worker and a member of iron worker’s local,” he said. “On top of that, he’s a regular guy – no pretenses with him. He’s not a wealthy man. He’s a ‘Joe Six Pack’ kind of guy,” he said in February. “I think his chief goals will be the working men and women of Massachusetts.”

Though Councilor Konnie Lukes has stepped across party lines to show support, when asked which Dem she thought had the best politics for the state, she went with Lynch. She said she usually supports the underdog, and unfortunately for her, the underdog did not surprise in this primary.

The Newcomer: Gomez’s Challenges and Advantages

On the GOP’s side, newcomer Gabriel Gomez will have some hurdles to overcome being the new face in town. Jeff Raymond, member of the Republican Town Committee in Millbury said that the candidate has his work cut out for him but has a good team to lead him.

“Gomez's challenge, beyond being a Republican in Massachusetts, is getting the grassroots on board, since many of them were enthusiastically strong for Sullivan, and shedding the opportunist image he may have inadvertently created with some of his previous donations and stumping for the Senate appointment with Governor Patrick,” he said. “It will be hard for the Democrats to exploit that, given that Markey will want to show the differences rather than similarities between himself and Gomez, but it's certainly going to be an issue for voters looking for someone different.”

Boatright said that the GOP’s candidate is “sort of in a weird position.”

“On the one hand, he won as the ‘outsider’ candidate, but seems from the reaction within the party that he has tepid support among Tea Party types and others who usually pick battles with the party establishment,” he said.

While Raymond said that Gomez needs to garner some grassroots support, Boatright disagreed.

“Yes, Scott Brown managed to generate support among conservative activists, but he also was helped by a lot of out-of-state money,” he said. “I think Gomez’s main hope is if Crossroads or some other right-leaning Super PAC steps in and buys ads beating up on Markey.”

An Argument for Dems

Miller said that Dems will try to point out the differences between Markey and Gomez and liken the GOP candidate to the ultra-conservative wing of the Republican party.

“Democrats will pull out all the stops so that they can to remind voters that a vote for Gomez is potentially a vote for Minority Leader Senator Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) and the very conservative wing of the national Republican party,” he said.

He also agrees that the new face in the race has some hurdles to overcome – one of the first being a decision whether or not to sign the People’s Pledge.

“Gomez received a relatively small number of votes in the primary, so his job will be to reach out beyond Republican activists in the state,” he said. “Gomez’s first big test will be to see whether he signs the Brown pledge to prevent outside groups from spending a lot of out-of-state money in this race.”

Chris Pinto, Treasurer of the Worcester Republican City Committee said that signing the pledge would be a bad deal for Gomez.

“Gomez should not sign any people pledge and he should hammer Markey on what he is, a Washington insider,” he said. “In last night's Markey victory speech we got a taste of Markey strategy to win. He will lie and lie and lie about Gomez until the cows come home. But he will not give us one compelling reason to vote for him.”

Still, Raymond said that Gomez has the advantage of “the best team that the Republicans have ever put together in a race.”

“For a newcomer to have the professional team and support base that he has, along with both losing candidates calling for party unity, it's going to benefit him quite a bit,” he said. “It doesn't hurt that his viewpoints play as more moderate, which has a good chance of pulling a lot of independents who also pulled for Brown back in 2010. Also, being an unknown means that he has the opportunity to strike first and define himself with the broader electorate, something someone like Sullivan or Winslow would have struggled a bit with.”

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