Massachusetts Republicans regroup after defeat in U.S. Senate special election
Republican U.S. Senate hopeful Gabriel Gomez, left, is seen across from former Republican U.S. Sen. Scott Brown in this composite of Associated Press file photos. Gomez had hoped to achieve in 2013 the same feat Brown pulled off in 2010- defeating a democratic frontrunner in a special U.S. Senate election in liberal-leaning Massachusetts
BOSTON - When Democrat Edward Markey defeated Republican Gabriel Gomez in the June 25 special election for U.S. Senate, it was only the latest loss for the Massachusetts GOP, and the string of defeats is leading some Republicans to rethink the party’s strategy.
“A lot of the folks being defensive right now, saying we have to keep doing things the way we’ve done things, are obviously mistaken,” said Paul Moore, a long-time Republican political strategist, pointing out that Republicans have only won one statewide election since 2002.
In past years, Republicans have had some success winning the governor’s seat. There have been three Republican governors elected since the 1990s – William F. Weld, A. Paul Cellucci and Mitt Romney. But, there has been only a single Republican U.S. senator from the Bay State since 1979: Scott Brown, who won a 2010 special election to fill the seat left vacant by the death of U.S. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy but then lost last year to Democrat Elizabeth Warren in a race to hold onto the post.
A Republican has not represented Massachusetts in the U.S. House since 1997.
Several viable Republican candidates have lost in recent election cycles – Gomez, Brown and congressional candidate Richard Tisei in 2012, and gubernatorial nominee Charles Baker in 2010.
There are just four Republicans in the 40-seat state Senate, and 30 Republicans in the 160-person state House. On Beacon Hill, Democrats hold all constitutional offices, and all but one seat on the eight-member Governor's Council.
Part of the dynamic is due to demographics – Democrats outnumber Republicans three-to-one in Massachusetts.
Other experts say, however, problems with organization and its message are at the core of the GOP’s difficulties.
Thomas Whalen, a political historian and associate professor of social science at Boston University, views part of the problem as structural, saying the GOP in Massachusetts has never figured out how to organize at a grassroots level.
“The leadership at the top more or less look out for themselves, but don’t look strategically at the long term for the party and the state,” Whalen said. “The old cliché is Massachusetts Republicans always want senator or Congress but never local water commissioner or dog catcher.”
The losses at the top, Whalen said, then contribute to other candidates’ hesitancy to run. “Because of the recent losses, there might be Republicans who promised they’d sit it out or give it up entirely,” Whalen said. “There’s a loser mentality that might prevent talented people from jumping into the fray.”
Others point to problems with messaging.
Moore said Republicans should learn from the Gomez campaign that it takes more than a candidate with a “nice biography” to win an election. That must be combined, he said, with a strong, topical message – which Gomez’s campaign did not have. “With so many huge, critical issues facing the country, the idea that most of the campaign seemed devoid of a discussion of these things, voters have to scratch their heads and say what planet are you living on?” Moore said.
Moore said the Republican Party needs to back off from talking about social issues like gay marriage and focus instead on areas like the economy.
“If political candidates spent time around strangers’ kitchen tables to listen instead of talking, most people don’t give a rat’s behind about what other people are doing in their bedrooms,” Moore said. “They’re concerned about jobs, the economy, crime, are we going to get into more wars, what about the people still dying in Afghanistan.”
Janet Leombruno, a Republican state committeewoman from Framingham who was active in the Gomez campaign, said part of the challenge is that Republicans disagree on why Gomez lost.
“He lost because he was too liberal or he was too conservative. This is what you’re hearing,” Leombruno said.
Massachusetts Republicans need a better way of getting their message out, rather than letting themselves be defined by the national Republican Party or the Tea Party, Leombruno said. She points out that Brown lost among women after Democrats tied him to two Republican senators who made controversial comments about rape and abortion.
“It’s just frustrating,” Leombruno said. “I saw a lot of it in this race with Gabriel. They tried to define him as just another Republican.”
Leombruno said a candidate in Massachusetts must be moderate to appeal to independents and be successful. Leombruno believes Republicans must stop talking about abortion and gay marriage, and focus on pocketbook issues like college affordability and taxes.
“We have to agree to give up a little something,” she said. “It may not be our perfect candidate but there’s never any one perfect candidate out there.”
Not everyone agrees that moderation is key.
Paul Santaniello, a Republican political activist and Longmeadow selectman, said one problem the GOP faces is that candidates like Gomez act too much like Democrats, and have lost their own vision.
“You try to run in the middle of the street, you tend to get run over,” Santaniello said. “That’s what’s happening to Republican Party.”
Santaniello said he believes it is a mistake for Massachusetts Republicans to distance themselves from Tea Party activists. “Those are the same kind of folks who will stand out for you in the rain or a driving hail storm to hold your sign,” he said.
Despite the recent losses, some Bay State Republicans remain hopeful, looking toward 2014 when there will be races for governor and U.S. senator.
"Gabriel Gomez did extremely well in a lot of different pockets of the commonwealth,'' said state Rep. Todd Smola, R-Warren, and one of only four GOP legislators from Western Massachusetts. "There's a lot of red territory in the state of Massachusetts after that election."
Gomez, in his first statewide election, won large swaths of Bristol, Essex, Hampden, Worcester and Plymouth counties, though he lost key cities such as Brockton, Gloucester, Lowell and Quincy. In Middlesex County, home to almost 23 percent of the state's voters, Gomez won 21 of 54 communities, but was crushed in swing communities such as Lowell and Waltham, which Brown had won in 2010.
Smola said Gomez's victories in certain communities are a good sign for a Republican statewide candidate in 2014 such as Baker or Brown. "Next year will be a good chance for the Republican Party to make some gains," Smola said.
State Rep. George Peterson, R-Grafton, who serves as assistant minority leader in the state House, said the GOP should continue to emphasize the need for more balance on Beacon Hill.
Republicans can win, Peterson said, by emphasizing a need for lower taxes and more reforms in state government. Such a platform could appeal to independents, who might be eager for change next year, he said.
With state spending at record levels and the economy still sluggish, "That's going to be a huge argument for the Republican Party and a very good one for us," Peterson added.
Peterson is among those who expects Baker to be the frontrunner for the party's nominee for governor. He said 2014 could be like 1990 when Weld won the corner office; that year, the Democrat-controlled Legislature raised the income tax to 6.25 percent when the state's economy was in poor shape.
Now, Democrats on Beacon Hill are poised to raise the gas tax by 3 cents a gallon and impose the sales tax on computer design services.
"A lot of people are going to be pretty upset," Peterson said.
Commentary
As I said in the title of this post they are DOOMED!
