Senate Debate Introduces 3 Republicans to Massachusetts Voters

EASTON, Mass. â€" Massachusetts voters got their first look Tuesday night at the three largely unknown Republicans who are running to fill the Senate seat left vacant by John Kerry, now the secretary of state.

In their first debate, held here at Stonehill College, south of Boston, the candidates mainly sought to introduce themselves and establish their identities rather than joust with one another. Rarely did they disagree.

Gabriel Gomez, a former member of the Navy SEALs and a private equity investor, had never run for office and seemed nervous on the stage before about 300 people for the hourlong session. His chief message was that he is not a career politician.

Michael Sullivan, a former United States attorney, took a low-key approach. He presented himself as the most experienced candidate.

State Representative Daniel B. Winslow called himself an outsider, but noted that he had experience in all three branches of government â€" as a former Distrct Court judge, a former chief counsel to a governor and a member of the legislature. He did not mention that the governor he worked for was Mitt Romney.

The three will face off in a primary on April 30; the winner will face the winner of the Democratic primary â€" either Representative Edward J. Markey or Representative Stephen F. Lynch â€" in a special election on June 25.

The race has gotten off to a sluggish start, partly because none of the candidates matches the star power of Scott P. Brown or Elizabeth Warren, who clashed in the state’s epic Senate race last fall.

The candidates at the debate did offer mild prescriptions for their party, however, as they were asked why Mr. Brown, the Republican incumbent, had lost to Ms. Warren.

Mr. Sullivan attributed Mr. Brown’s loss to President Obama’s popularity in the state, saying Ms. Warren essentially won on Mr. Obama’s coattails. But he also said the Republican brand suffered because the party did not do a good job! of reaching out to important groups of voters, including women, young Americans and fiscal conservatives.

Mr. Winslow agreed that the party needed to reach out more and said he wanted to use this race as a chance for the Republicans to assert themselves as the party of “growth, opportunity and prosperity,” or G.O.P.

While all three candidates praised Mr. Brown lavishly, they did not embrace many of his positions. For example, none of them supported a ban on assault weapons, as Mr. Brown did after the shootings in Newtown, Conn., in December.

All three support term limits and said they would release at least six years of their tax records.

They also all said that they would have been proud to stand with Senator Rand Paul, the Kentucky Republican, who filibustered for nearly 13 hours last week to protest Mr. Obama’s use of drone airstrikes, and that they believed in the se of filibusters, which Ms. Warren has sought to curtail.

“He stood up â€" he wanted to be counted,” Mr. Winslow said of Mr. Paul. “He didn’t just mail it in.” Mr. Winslow said the filibuster should be used on occasion but added, in perhaps the evening’s most memorable line, “It’s mind over bladder.”

Mr. Gomez said he would like to emulate Mr. Paul, though he played down the length of time the senator spent standing.
“I used to be a SEAL,” Mr. Gomez said. “I think I can go for a few days.” In the defense of liberty, he said, a filibuster “was exactly the right thing to do.”

Mr. Sullivan said that if the issue in question was important enough, “I’d go as long as humanly possible.” He said a filibuster had been Mr. Paul’s only option, and drew laughs when he added, “It wasn’t like he was interrupting a lot of business in the Senate.”

One question that brought out a distinction between the candidates was about Mr. Winslow’s! reputati! on for “out-of-the-box theatrics,” such as an episode in which he said the governor needed to cut “fluff” out of the budget. When no one paid much attention to that, he drew up lists of things that could be cut, put them in marshmallow fluff jars and delivered them to the statehouse.

He was asked if that was “senatorial behavior.”

Mr. Winslow said his actions had brought attention to his issues. “I’m in the loyal opposition,” he said. “My role is to poke back and speak truth to power.”

The other two candidates painted themselves as serious and more dignified. “Since I went to the Naval Academy, and I was a pilot on a carrier and a SEAL, I let my actions speak for themselves,” Mr. Gomez said. “I don’t need to grandstand.”

Mr. Sullivan said he “can’t see myself participating in that kind of theatrics” unless he was trying to be funny. “I take my responsibilities seriously,” he said. “My style is to be respectful. Theatrics is not a big part f my life.”