Longtime Democratic Rep. Edward Markey won a special election in Massachusetts on Tuesday to succeed John Kerry in the U.S. Senate.
The 66-year-old Markey beat Republican challenger Gabriel Gomez, a former Navy SEAL and political newcomer.
The race did not draw the deep interest of the 2010 special election between former Sen. Scott Brown, a Republican, and Democratic state Attorney General Martha Coakley. Brown pulled out a surprise victory that year, though he lost the seat to Democrat Elizabeth Warren in November.
Markey vowed to avoid a repeat, bringing in President Barack Obama and former President Bill Clinton to campaign with him.
Gomez is a 47-year-old businessman. He was never able to raise the money he needed to beat Markey.
Kerry left the Senate to become U.S. secretary of state.
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