fb-pixelGomez picks up endorsement of former GOP rival - The Boston Globe Skip to main content

Gomez picks up endorsement of former GOP rival

US Senate Republican nominee Gabriel Gomez, right, spoke to reporters as former US Attorney Michael Sullivan, left, listened during a campaign event.AP Photo/Steven Senne

Republican Senate nominee Gabriel E. Gomez on Tuesday received the endorsement of his former GOP rival, Michael J. Sullivan.

“I’m excited about offering my support to Gabriel Gomez,” said Sullivan, a former US attorney. “This is a good and decent person who wants to serve for all the right reasons.”

At the endorsement event, held at a Boston park, Sullivan went on the attack against the Democratic nominee, US Representative Edward J. Markey. He hammered the Markey campaign for releasing a Web video that included a split screen of Gomez and Osama bin Laden. The Markey Web video was criticizing Gomez for his association with a group that knocked President Obama for how he handled the aftermath of the killing of bin Laden.

Advertisement



During the primary race, Sullivan was strongly critical of Gomez for sending a letter to Democratic Governor Deval Patrick offering himself as a candidate for an interim appointment to the Senate. Patrick appointed William “Mo” Cowan, his former chief of staff, to serve in the Senate until the special election victor is sworn in.

Asked about the those criticisms at the event, Sullivan said, “In retrospect, I wish that Deval Patrick had appointed him to the job and I think on June 25, Governor Patrick is going to wish he had appointed him to the job!”

Markey has focused his campaign over the last week on pressuring Gomez to sign a so-called People’s Pledge, a pact that would work to limit outside spending in the race.

At the event, Sullivan also said the “People’s Pledge is a ploy to distract voters from his record of tax hikes and deficit spending in his 37 years in Congress.”

Markey has argued the pledge would increase awareness of who was putting money behind candidates, which he said would be good for voters.

Advertisement



Gomez, a private equity investor and former Navy SEAL, lauded Sullivan and thanked him for his support. Gomez beat Sullivan and state Representative Daniel B. Winslow in an April 30 Republican primary.

Will Ritter, a Gomez spokesman, said Winslow would publicly endorse the Gomez in the “the very near future.”

Gomez and Markey will face off in a June 25 special election for the seat formerly held by John F. Kerry.


Joshua Miller can be reached at joshua.miller@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @jm_bos.