With only a week left before voters go to the polls, Democrat Edward J. Markey and Republican Gabriel E. Gomez are set to face off tonight in the third and final televised debate of the Massachusetts US Senate special election.
Markey, a long-time US Representative from Malden, and Gomez, a Cohasset private equity investor and former Navy SEAL, are vying to fill the seat formerly held by John F. Kerry, who resigned to become Secretary of State. The election is next Tuesday, June 25.
The debate, sponsored by the Boston Media Consortium, will take place at the studios of WGBH-TV, Boston’s PBS news station. The one-hour debate begins at 7 p.m.
Gomez is hoping to replicate the success of Scott Brown, a little-known Republcian state lawmaker who won a stunning upset victory in 2010 to fill the US Senate seat left vacant by the death of long-time Democratic senator Edward M. Kennedy. But with time running out in the campaign, Gomez faces what appears to be an uphill battle in the traditionally blue Bay State.
The Boston Globe reported Sunday that Markey held a solid lead over Gomez, with Markey garnering 54 perecent of votes, compared with Gomez’s 41 percent. The Globe also reported last week that Markey had been outspending Gomez.
The debate is to be moderated by former long-time Boston newscaster R.D. Sahl of Boston University. The format calls for no opening statements. In the first section, Sahl will ask the candidates questions on domestic policy. In the secone, candidates will ask questions of each other. In the third section, Sahl will ask the candidates questions about foreign policy and defense. Both Gomez and Markey will have one minute for a closing statement.
At last week’s debate, held in Springfield, Gomez sought to distance himself from the national Republican Party, embracing some Democratic initiatives, like an increase in the minimum wage.
In the first debate, two weeks ago in Boston, Markey focused on painting Gomez as out of step with the state’s Democratic-leaning voters. Gomez repeatedly attacked Markey, sometimes mockingly, for his almost 37-year tenure as a US Representative.
