Longtime Democratic House member to fill Kerry Senate seat
BOSTON — Democratic U.S. Rep. Edward Markey defeated Republican newcomer Gabriel Gomez in a special election Tuesday for the state’s U.S. Senate seat long held by John Kerry.
Markey, 66, won the early backing of Kerry and much of the state’s Democratic establishment, which was set on avoiding a repeat of a loss three years ago, when Republican state Sen. Scott Brown upset Democratic state Attorney General Martha Coakley to replace the late Democratic Sen. Edward Kennedy.
Gomez, a 47-year-old businessman and former Navy SEAL, positioned himself as a moderate and Washington outsider who would challenge partisan gridlock.
Markey, first elected to the U.S. House in 1976, had an advantage of about 8 percentage points over Gomez, according to unofficial returns Tuesday.
Kerry left the Senate this year after being confirmed as U.S. secretary of state. Markey will fill the remainder of Kerry’s term, which expires in January 2015, meaning another Senate election will be held a year from November.
Though Markey has a lengthy career in Congress, he will become the state’s junior senator to Elizabeth Warren, who has been in office less than six months after defeating Brown in November.
“I have delivered a message on gun safety, on a woman’s right to choose, on creating more jobs, and I think that message has been delivered,” Markey said.
Gomez said while voting Tuesday that the election was about choosing the future over the past and what he called Markey’s failure to take on the important issues despite 37 years in office.
In Cambridge, Lori Berenson, 51, said she voted for Markey mainly because she was skeptical of one of Gomez’s main campaign pitches: his request for just 17 months in office.
“He thinks in 17 months he’s going to accomplish what Markey hasn’t done in 37 years?” she said.
Markey spent more than $8.6 million on the race through the end of the last reporting period June 5, compared with $2.3 million by Gomez, according to Federal Election Commission records.
Outside groups also poured about $6 million into the contest.
Among big independent spenders were a Republican-backed political action committee funded by John Jordan, a California-based donor, and NextGen, a super PAC financed by another Californian, Thomas Steyer. He supported Markey because of his opposition to the Keystone XL Pipeline, which would carry oil from western Canada to Texas.