Ex-Navy SEAL Gabriel Gomez Running For Senate [Video]
Gabriel Gomez, a former Navy SEAL and Boston businessman, has announced that he is a GOP candidate for US Senate in Massachusetts to replace Senator John Kerry.
Gomez released a bilingual web video (see below) launching his first-time bid for public office.
“I’m not a politician so I’ll have a very different kind of campaign,” he said in the video.
In a statement, Gabriel Gomez said, “In my military career, at the U.S. Naval Academy, as a Navy aircraft carrier pilot, and as a Navy SEAL, I learned one thing above all else — serving others is more important than being served.” Gomez is the son of Colombian immigrants.
The primary is April 30, and the special election is June 25. Under Massachusetts law, Gomez needs to get 10,000 petition signatures by February 27 to qualify for the Republican primary ballot.
The Massachusetts Senate seat became vacant once Kerry was confirmed as US Secretary of State.
In a surprise, former Senator Scott Brown (who was the upset winner in the 2010 special election after Ted Kennedy passed away but then lost in the general election) declined to run for the open seat, thereby clearing the field for other Republicans. Aside from Gomez, only one other Republican has stepped forward so far: state Rep. Dan Winslow. Tagg Romney, Mitt Romney’s son, thought about jumping in but decided against it.
Brown, who was a little known state legislator and Army National Guard Colonel before he skyrocketed to national prominence in 2010, was favored to win the special election in 2013 even in the blue state of Massachusetts.
Career politicians Edward Markey and Stephen Lynch, both of whom are incumbent Congressmen, are squaring off in the Democrat primary.
According to Boston talk show host Howie Carr, who is a good friend of Scott Brown, Brown may have opted out because of the daunting task of mounting four US Senate campaigns in four years. If he had won in June, he would been faced with another election right around the corner in 2014 when Kerry’s six-year term would have ended — this after running in 2010 and 2012. Brown is reportedly considering running for Massachusetts governor in 2014.
Watch the Gabriel Gomez video announcement of his candidacy for US Senate:
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