Gabriel Gomez is a former United States Navy SEAL and an investor at a private equity firm. However, his personal roots are much slighter. Gomez grew up in Los Angeles as the son of immigrants from Colombia, in Latin America. He joined the Navy in 1987 after being appointed to the academy in Annapolis, Md. that year, eventually working his way through the ranks to become a Navy SEAL.
He later attended Harvard Business School and received his MBA and began working in the private sector. Now, Gabriel Gomez is mounting a challenge to Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., a liberal institution of sorts in the state of Massachusetts. Ed Markey, 66, has been in public office since shortly after Watergate. The left-wing Democrat succeeded Rep. Torbert MacDonald, D-Mass., who died in office in May 1976. His time on Capitol Hill was preceded by a short stint in the Massachusetts House of Representatives.
Markey's history in the US House has included numerous important votes such as voting for the Affordable Care Act and against the 2004 Ohio recount for then-President George Bush. Markey has also voiced his opposition to the Tea Party and his support of the notion of climate change. He once memorably said that Gov. Rick Perry, R-Texas, was "allergic to science" for not believing in global warming. He also threatened to make a scene at the 1980 Democratic National Convention if not given a premiere speaking slot.
Enter SEAL Gabriel Gomez. Beating former ATF official Michael Sullivan and State Representative Dan Winslow, the Republican with little to no political background now faces off against a Massachusetts Democrat whose tenure can be compared to a fellow Bay Stater known by many as the "Lion of the Senate", the late Edward Kennedy.
Gomez ran his primary race concentrating on his business background, in similar style to his state's former governor, Mitt Romney, as well as on his experience in the US military. A high-ranking official at the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, Matt Canter, criticized Gomez following his win, calling him "extreme right wing" and "outside the mainstream". On the other hand, NRSC Chairman Jerry Moran of Kansas called Gabriel Gomez a "next generation leader".
The Hill newspaper reported that Moran hopes to use Edward Markey's 40-year tenure in the US House as an issue in the upcoming election on Gomez' behalf. Gomez and Markey are vying to fill the Senate seat vacated by now-Secretary of State John F. Kerry, a longtime Massachusetts Democrat. The June 25 special election will be hotly contested, as two very different men will face off. Markey, a Washington insider, and Gomez, 47, a relative outsider.
The Boston Globe reported on Massachusetts Democrats' fears that Gomez' 'outsider' status and businessman persona would lead to a repeat of the famous 2010 election of now former Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass. Brown, who last appeared as a common interviewee in media coverage of the Boston marathon bombing, was beaten in his reelection bid by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass. in 2012. Brown himself ran in a special election, following the death of Kennedy.
James Innocenzi, a Republican strategist told the Globe that indeed Gabriel Gomez has a chance of pulling a Scott Brown-type upset in a vastly liberal state. "He's a Republican, Hispanic, who comes across as [a] moderate...He could emerge as a sort of marquee Hispanic candidate."
Hispanic Republicans have indeed been popular among voters nationwide. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla, Gov. Susana Martinez, R-N.Mex., Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and brothers Mario, a current congressman, and former Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart, R-Fla. have been very popular in their respective jurisdictions as well as across the country. Former Gov. Luis Fortuno, R-P.R. was even thought by some to be a vice presidential contender for a short time prior to the 2012 elections.
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