‘A true champion of the people’
Gov., friends recall state Sen. Edwin Gomes, who died after car crash
BRIDGEPORT — Edwin A. Gomes, a former steel worker, union negotiator and state senator who often ran — and won elections — despite opposition from Bridgeport’s powerful Democratic machine, died Tuesday morning, nine days after a head-on car crash in the city he loved.
An unlikely politician, Gomes, 84, was a blunttalking everyman whose voice rose against conservative lawmakers in the General Assembly, and who channeled a righteous indignation for working people at a time when trade unions are in decline.
“The labor movement lost a true hero for working people,” said Sal Luciano, president of the state AFLCIO. “Ed never forgot where he came from and never apologized for standing with workers and fighting to make their lives better.”
A union steelworker at Carpenter Steel, Gomes rose first to the City Council, then the legislature, winning primaries and general elections as a thorn in the side of local party leaders.
He began his first stint in the state Senate after a 2005 special election, and another in 2015 under the Working Families Party ballot line after Democratic leaders, including Town Chairman Mario Testa, tried to unseat him.
Gov. Ned Lamont on Tuesday remembered Gomes’ support in his 2006 challenge to then-U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman, who lost the primary to Lamont but won reelection as an independent.
Lamont told reporters Tuesday that while he and Gomes had sharply different backgrounds, they shared similar goals and became close friends, ever since Lamont’s opposition to the war in Iraq prodded him to challenge Lieberman in 2006.
“I got to know him first because I threw my hat in the ring because I thought the invasion of Iraq was a lousy idea back about 15 years ago, and I got down to the Old State House and the place was packed with a lot of people, but only one person who was elected who wanted to be there,” Lamont said during an unrelated news conference.
“I learned a lot about politics and that person was recently elected state Sen. Ed Gomes,” Lamont recalled. “And so, I knew him as someone who always stood up for what he believed, let the consequences be damned, this is what I’m going to do. I think he served the people of Bridgeport just passionately. His loss is a loss that I feel desperately and I know the people of Bridgeport, the people of Connecticut, do as well.”
In 2016, while in the Senate advocating a law that bans prospective employers from asking about criminal convictions, Gomes revealed that as a teenager, homeless
and hungry, he broke into a restaurant and stole a couple of sandwiches. He was caught and sentenced to prison, and with a criminal record, he could not enlist in the military. After he was drafted into the U.S. Army, however, his life turned around. He rose from factory worker to union representative.
John Olsen, the state’s former longtime top labor leader as president of the state AFL-CIO, recalled that Gomes served for many years on the organization’s executive board, and was a voice for workers of all kinds in the state legislature.
“Ed was probably the most outspoken labor advocate in the General Assembly,” Olsen said Tuesday. “He was a blue-collar worker. ... He was a man on the shop floor and he identified with the issues, like unemployment, workers’ compensation, safety and as an African American, fighting discrimination. He walked in those shoes. ...
Whether it was state, local politics, community coalitions, he never forgot he was a labor guy, unapologetically.”
Bob Walsh, Gomes’ longtime friend and City Council peer, said there weren’t a lot of things that scared the former union leader, “but he was scared of this pandemic.”
“He did not gloat over winning, well maybe a little bit, but he took the losses bad,” Walsh said. “I can remember somewhat recently his still reminiscing over not being able to get a Living Wage Ordinance passed by the city. He would say today if you wanted to do something in his honor, pass a Living Wage Ordinance. Do something in his memory to help those less fortunate. That was his calling in politics. Not doing something to help yourself.”
In Bridgeport, Gomes’ passing was met with sorrowful tears and anecdotal remembrances.
“He always encouraged me to get involved in politics,” said Wanda Simmons, a community activist. “He was a true champion of the people and unlike any other politician I’ve ever met.”
In one of their last conversations, Simmons recalled how Gomes wanted to revive the Bridgeport Black Caucus.
As Simmons recalled the conversation, her voice cracked and her emotions overcame her. “That was his mantle. This is like a sign to me to pick it up. So in January, I am going to try to do that with a Zoom call.”
Chris Caruso, a longtime Bridgeport politician and former state representative, said Gomes’ “word was his bond. If he gave you his word, he would not go back on it. He’d never go behind your back.
“When you were with him, it seemed like he knew everybody. He either worked with them, attended church with them or campaigned with them. ... He was the type of person who one minute could have a conversation with the Queen of England and then walk out and be talking to the guy sweeping the sidewalks.”
Gomes died at Bridgeport Hospital on Tuesday morning, according to John Cappiello, a spokesman for the hospital. State Sen. Marilyn Moore, Gomes’ former Capitol aide and close friend, who went on to represent the three-town 22nd Senate district, said he died at about 7:10 a.m.
“If Ed could see all of the fuss being made over him today, he would be saying, ‘what’s this all about,’” said Walsh, his longtime friend.