Rep. Stephen Lynch has beaten back a progressive primary challenge in Massachusetts’s 8th Congressional District, fending off attorney Patrick Roath despite being outraised by roughly $300,000.
Lynch, 71, has held the seat for a quarter-century and built a reputation as one of the more conservative Democrats in Congress. Roath, 39, a former aide to ex-Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, ran to his left on immigration, healthcare, money in politics and housing.
Immigration was a flashpoint. Lynch was one of only 46 House Democrats to vote for the Laken Riley Act, which requires federal authorities to detain certain migrants accused or convicted of theft and other specified crimes. Roath, who wanted ICE dismantled and replaced, made that vote a centerpiece of his campaign, 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 conceded the bill was “imperfect” but defended his vote as a necessary response to an immigration system he described as “completely out of control.”
On healthcare, Roath pushed for universal, government-funded coverage and backed Medicare for All. Lynch has favored a public option instead and has been a vocal critic of for-profit hospital companies. Notably, Lynch was one of the few Democrats in Congress to vote against the Affordable Care Act, arguing at the time that it caved too much to insurance companies.
Roath campaigned as an outsider populist, but Lynch pushed back by highlighting Roath’s career as a corporate lawyer. Lynch, by contrast, worked as an iron worker and union president before entering Congress in 2001.
The race drew heavyweight backers on both sides. Roath had the support of the Boston Globe, David Hogg’s Leaders We Deserve, Indivisible, the Massachusetts Teachers Association, Boston Teachers Union and American Federation of Teachers Massachusetts. Lynch was backed by the Massachusetts AFL-CIO, Iron Workers Local 7, Professional Firefighters of Massachusetts and the American Federation of Government Employees.
Lynch has long pushed back on the idea that he’s out of step with the national party. “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.”
He has moved left on some issues over the years — once a pro-life Democrat, Lynch now backs Planned Parenthood and supports pro-abortion legislation.
The district is heavily Democratic. Robert Burke, a retired telecommunications worker and small businessman, is the Republican nominee for the general election.
