Rep. Stephen Lynch has defeated progressive challenger Patrick Roath in the Democratic primary for Massachusetts’s 8th Congressional District, holding off an insurgent campaign that outraised him by about $300,000.
Lynch, 71, has represented the district for a quarter-century and built a reputation as one of the more conservative Democrats in Congress. Roath, 39, is an attorney and former aide to ex-Gov. Deval Patrick who ran as an outsider populist, challenging Lynch from the left on immigration, healthcare, money in politics and housing.
Immigration policy was a central flashpoint. Lynch was one of 46 House Democrats who voted for the Laken Riley Act, which requires federal authorities to detain certain migrants accused or convicted of theft and other specified crimes. Roath, who backed dismantling and replacing ICE, pointed to that vote as part of his motivation for entering the race, calling Lynch’s support for the bill “shortsighted and expedient” and saying it “demonstrates a fundamental failure to take seriously the threat that the Trump Administration poses to all Americans.”
Lynch defended the vote, acknowledging the bill was “imperfect” but arguing it responded to an immigration system that was “completely out of control.”
The two candidates also split sharply on healthcare. Roath supported moving toward universal, government-funded coverage and backed Medicare for All. Lynch has favored a public option and has been critical of for-profit companies’ role in the hospital system. Notably, Lynch was among a small group of Democrats who voted against the Affordable Care Act, a decision he has defended by arguing the law gave too many concessions to insurance companies.
Roath sought to run as a political outsider, but Lynch pushed back by highlighting Roath’s career as a corporate lawyer. Lynch himself worked as an iron worker and union president before becoming a lawyer and entering Congress in 2001.
Both candidates assembled sizable coalitions of institutional support. Roath was endorsed by The Boston Globe, David Hogg’s Leaders We Deserve, Indivisible, the Massachusetts Teachers Association, the Boston Teachers Union and American Federation of Teachers Massachusetts. Lynch had the backing of the Massachusetts AFL-CIO, Iron Workers Local 7, the Professional Firefighters of Massachusetts and the American Federation of Government Employees.
The race also reflected a generational divide within the party, pitting the 71-year-old incumbent against a 39-year-old challenger, and came amid a broader national struggle between the Democratic Party’s progressive and moderate wings.
Lynch has long pushed back on characterizations of himself as conservative or moderate relative to national Democrats. “Calling me the least liberal member from Massachusetts is like calling me the slowest Kenyan in the Boston Marathon,” he said in 2010. “It’s all relative.”
His voting record has shifted leftward in recent years. Once a self-described pro-life Democrat, Lynch now defends Planned Parenthood and supports abortion-rights legislation.
Massachusetts’s 8th Congressional District leans heavily Democratic. Robert Burke, a retired telecommunications worker and small businessman, is the Republican nominee in the general election.
You must be logged in to post a comment Login