Braintree Family Swings Support From Lynch to Gomez

David and Pat Lear supported their Congressman, Democrat Stephen Lynch, in the primary race that ended with Lynch losing to U.S. Rep. Ed Markey on April 30.

Soon after, the Braintree couple reached out to the campaign of Gabriel Gomez, a former Navy SEAL and Cohasset businessman who topped the Republican field. As Gomez and Markey move toward the June 25 general election, Gomez is leveraging his moderate conservatism to go after independent voters and Lynch supporters like the Lears.

"Markey is too far out on the left," said Will Ritter, Gomez's press secretary. "They don't feel like he represents them."

Gomez visited the Lears, along with grandson Dan Regan and Pat's sister Judy Starr at the Lears' in-law apartment on Hobart Avenue Tuesday afternoon. They sat around a dining room table for about 20 minutes talking about the economy, a Balanced Budget Amendment that Gomez is pushing, the divisive politics of Washington and how Gomez differs from longtime Congressman Markey.

Dan, a rising senior at Westfield State University studying criminal justice, said he worries about the job market. David, a retired Verizon worker and Air Force veteran, said that Congress should be more careful with its spending, and he expressed concern about companies like Verizon selling their pension management.

Starr said she was nervous about her health insurance changing under Obamacare. "I'm looking toward the future hoping it's not going to be too tough," she said.

Turning to Markey, David said that 35 years in Congress for one person is more than enough. Starr seconded that, saying that "He has to go out and get a job like the rest of us."

"He's not worrying about his pension fund," Gomez said of his Democratic rival. "And he's definitely not worrying about his health insurance."

The Balanced Budget Amendment is among Gomez's seven steps to "Reboot Congress." They also include enacting term limits, banning Congressmen and Senators from becoming lobbyists, freezing Congressional pay and bringing in the line-item veto.

Gomez has pledged not to serve more than two full terms in the Senate if elected.

One of David's suggestions – that officials start sitting among each other in the House and Senate instead of along party lines – Gomez said he would bring forward as a common-sense solution.

"They have to learn how to get along – all of them," Starr said.

Ritter, Gomez's press secretary, said that his candidate can pick up a lot of support from voters who went for Lynch during the primary. And Gomez, who recently ran in a 5K at Ross Elementary School, said he will be back again many times to Braintree, where Lynch bested Markey by more than 60 percent.

"Lynch supporters are voters that we will be courting very heavily," Ritter said.