Gabriel E. Gomez

Gabriel Eduardo Gomez(born August 27, 1965) is an American politician, private equity investor and former Navy SEAL.He was the Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate in the 2013 special election in Massachusetts, to replace U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. Gomez was defeated by U.S. Representative Ed Markey. Gomez has the rare distinction of having served as both an Aircraft Carrier Pilot and a Navy SEAL.

Gomez was born in Los Angeles, to Colombian immigrants. He grew up in Yakima, Washington, where his father worked as a business executive. Gomez was a good student and star athlete, who brought home the state's tennis championship for Eisenhower High School in 1983. Gomez's tennis skills attracted recruiters for the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, and he received an appointment. He graduated with merit with an engineering degree on May 20, 1987. He earned his MBA from Harvard Business School.

After becoming a United States Naval Aviator, Gomez flew E-2C Hawkeyes and C-2A Greyhounds off aircraft carriers. While his commanding officer cautioned him against it, he later became a Navy SEAL, graduating at the top of his class. He left the military in 1996. He became a private equity investor, working for Bowles Hollowell Conner in North Carolina and then Summit Partners in Boston.

In 2013, when Massachusetts senior U.S. Senator John Kerry was nominated to be U.S. Secretary of State and resigned his office, Gomez announced his candidacy as a Republican for that office.On April 30, 2013, Gomez defeated former U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts and former Acting Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms Michael Sullivan and State Representative Daniel Winslow in the Republican primary with 51% of the vote.

In May 2013, the non-profit group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington filed an ethics complaint against Gomez with the Senate Select Committee on Ethics for allegedly failing to disclose clients while working for the private equity firm Advent International. Gomez' spokesman dismissed the complaint as "merit-less".

On June 25, 2013, Gomez was defeated by Markey, 55%-45%.Although outside groups participated extensively in support of either candidate in the election, the flood of money that had been expected to be spent on behalf of Gomez did not materialize. Senator Jerry Moran of Kansas, the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, indicated that Gomez would run again for the seat in the November 2014 regular election, in an attempt to win a full six-year term. Gomez later decided not to seek elected office during the 2014 election cycle, but has stated he may return to politics in the future.

Political positions

During the 2013 race, Gomez cast himself as a "new kind of Republican," based particularly on certain of his views on divisive social issues. Gomez expressed support for same-sex marriage, expanded background checks for gun purchases, and a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants. Gomez considered himself personally pro-life, however he stated that abortion was "settled law" and that he would not support any legislation that would limit or restrict a women's right to choose. During the election Gomez did not support a ban on assault weapons. He later reversed that position.

Gomez agreed with Florida U.S. Senator Marco Rubio's position that a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants should only become available after the U.S.-Mexico border was certified as secure. Although originally claiming to be opposed to high-capacity assault rifle bans, Gomez supported extended background checks on gunowners.However, during the campaign the Boston Globe published a guest editorial by Gomez in which he switched that position and announced his support for bans on semi-auto "assault-style weapons" and "high capacity" magazines.Gomez indicated that he is personally pro-life, but acknowledged that because he considers abortion to be a difficult, personal choice, he would not seek to change existing laws allowing abortions.

Gomez donated to the Obama campaign in 2008. However, in 2012, Gomez was a media spokesperson for the Special Operations OPSEC Education Fund, which criticized President Obama for releasing details related to the death of Osama bin Laden.

In December 2013, Gomez wrote a Facebook post in regards to two conservative activists, which said, "The level of ignorance and intolerance exhibited by them and their small 'Klan' are an embarrassment to our civil society. Merry Christmas," Before announcing his apology, Gomez said he did not regret writing the post. Gomez insisted his reference to "Klan" was not referring to the Ku Klux Klan.

In 2017, Gomez told WCVB that he had left the Republican Party.

While deployed as a Navy SEAL platoon commander in Saint Lucia, Gomez met his future wife, who was working as a Peace Corps volunteer in the nearby island nation of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. They reside in Cohasset, Massachusetts with their four children. He is Roman Catholic.

In 2014, Gomez co-founded O2X along with Adam C. La Reau, Paul J McCullough and Craig J. Coffey. O2X provides interactive educational seminars, specialized training plans, an executive development program, summit challenges and nutritional advice through workshops and an online portal. O2X caters to corporations, first responders, teams and individuals. Clients include the Boston Fire Department and Fidelity Investments.