Edwin A. Gomes (February 25, 1936 – December 22, 2020) was an American politician, a Democratic member of the

Connecticut State Senate The Connecticut State Senate is the upper house of the Connecticut General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The state senate comprises 36 members, each representing a district with around 99,280 inhabitants. Sena ...

, representing District 23, which includes

Bridgeport Bridgeport is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Connecticut and the fifth-most populous city in New England, with a population of 148,654 in 2020. Located in eastern Fairfield County at the mouth of the Pequonnock River on Long Is ...

. He was elected to the chamber in a special election on February 24, 2015, and served until 2019. He previously served in the chamber, representing the same district, from November 2005 to January 2013.Ballotpedia
Edwin Gomes
/ref>

Personal life

Gomes served in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

from 1958 to 1963 and then worked as a Laborer/Annealer for Carpenter Steel from 1963 to 1977 and International Representative of District 1 for the

United Steelworkers of America The United Steel, Paper and Forestry, Rubber, Manufacturing, Energy, Allied Industrial and Service Workers International Union, commonly known as the United Steelworkers (USW), is a general trade union with members across North America. Headqua ...

. On December 13, 2020, Gomes suffered serious head injuries during a car crash in Bridgeport, and died from his injuries on December 22, 2020, at the age of 84.

Political career

Gomes served on the Bridgeport City Council from 1983 to 1989 and again from 1999 to 2005. He was elected to the Connecticut Senate in 2004, serving from 2005 to 2013. After losing the Democratic primary in 2012 against Andres Ayala, he decided to run again in the special election in early 2015, but the Democratic leadership decided to give the nomination to someone else. However, the local

Working Families Party The Working Families Party (WFP) is a progressive minor political party in the United States, founded in New York in 1998. There are active chapters in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Georgia, Illinois ...

gave him their spot on the ballot and he was elected with 49% of the vote in a three-way race, becoming the party's first candidate outside the state of New York to win office. Together with Republican Prasad Srinivasan and Democrat Minnie Gonzalez, Gomes was one of only three members of the Judiciary Committee voting against the 2018 reconfirmation of the controversial family court judge Jane B. Emons, who ended up not being reconfirmed despite the positive committee vote.Mark Pazniokas
Legislators use calendar to kill a judge's career
CT Mirror, May 4, 2018.

References

1936 births 2020 deaths Politicians from Bridgeport, Connecticut Connecticut city council members Democratic Party Connecticut state senators 21st-century members of the Connecticut General Assembly Working Families Party politicians Politicians from New Bedford, Massachusetts Military personnel from Massachusetts Road incident deaths in Connecticut 20th-century Connecticut politicians {{Connecticut-politician-stub