Rep. Markey wins Senate race in Mass.

BOSTON — BOSTON Longtime Democratic U.S. Rep. Edward Markey defeated Republican political newcomer Gabriel Gomez in a special election on Tuesday for the state's U.S. Senate seat long held by John Kerry.

Gomez, a 47-year-old businessman and former Navy SEAL, positioned himself as a moderate and Washington outsider who would challenge partisan gridlock, contrasting himself with Markey, who was first elected to the U.S. House in 1976.

With almost all precincts reporting late Tuesday, Markey had 55percent, or about 629,000 votes, and Gomez had 45percent, or about 513,000 votes.

Markey, who declared victory two hours after the polls closed, ticked off a slew of legislative priorities. He said he wanted to help spark a "green energy revolution," protect seniors, boost job growth in Massachusetts and ensure young people can attend college without shouldering enormous debt.

Markey told voters he doesn't take the Senate race win lightly.

"I go there to stand for you. To speak for you. To seek change that lifts up your families and your future," he said.

Gomez said he called Markey to congratulate him and wished him "nothing but the best." He said he'd waged the campaign with honor and integrity but was heavily outspent by Democrats in the five-month election.

"Not every fight is a fair fight," Gomez said in his concession speech. "Sometimes you face overpowering force. We were massively overspent. We went up against literally the whole national Democratic Party. And all its allies."

Kerry left the Senate this year after being confirmed as U.S. secretary of state. Markey, 66, will serve for the remainder of Kerry's term, which expires in January 2015, meaning that another Senate election will be held a year from November.

Though Markey has a lengthy career in Congress, he will become the state's junior senator to Elizabeth Warren, who has been in office less than six months after defeating Brown in November.

Markey led in pre-election polls but said Tuesday when he voted with his wife in his hometown, Malden, that there was no overconfidence in his organization. He had said the campaign called or rang the doorbells of 3million prospective voters in the past several days.

"I have delivered a message on gun safety, on a woman's right to choose, on creating more jobs, and I think that message has been delivered and I feel very good about today," he said.

Gomez said while voting Tuesday in Cohasset, where he lives, that the election was about choosing the future over the past and what he called Markey's failure to take on the important issues despite 37 years in office.

"Where I come from, that is mission incomplete," he said.

In Cambridge, Lori Berenson, 51, said she voted for Markey, mainly because she was skeptical of one of Gomez's main campaign pitches: his request for just 17 months in office.

"He thinks in 17 months he's going to accomplish what Markey hasn't done in 37 years?" she said.

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