With only two weeks to go before the special election to fill a US Senate seat in Massachusetts, Democrat Edward J. Markey and Republican Gabriel E. Gomez are set to face off tonight in Springfield in their second televised debate.
Markey, a long-time US Representative from Malden, and Gomez, a 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 debate will be broadcast from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. on WGBY-TV, CBS 3 Springfield, ABC-40/FOX-6 and NBC-22, and air on New England Public Radio, 88.5 FM. MassLive.com will livestream the debate.
Questions are expected on Western Massachusetts issues such as broadband access, economic development, unemployment in Holyoke and Springfield.
In the first debate, which was held in Allston last week, 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.
With the June 25 election looming on the horizon, a new poll of likely voters released this morning found Markey leading Gomez by 7 points. That was the same margin as a poll released Monday. Markey’s lead appears to have narrowed from earlier polls.
Gomez, a political neophyte, faces an uphill battle in a traditionally blue state. But he is hoping to sway enough independent voters to lift him to victory.
Markey is hoping to get a boost from a visit to the state Wednesday by Democratic President Barack Obama.
The first debate was last week in Boston. The final debate showdown between the two candidates will be on June 18 at the WGBH-TV studios in Boston.
It is the third Senate race in three years in the state. Republican Scott Brown won a stunning upset victory in January 2010 in a special election to fill the seat left vacant by the death of Democratic icon Edward M. Kennedy. Brown failed to win re-election last fall in a race against Harvard Law professor Elizabeth Warren.
