A former city councilor from West Springfield and candidate for Congress is contemplating operating towards U.S. Sen. Ed Markey as a Republican through the 2026 midterm elections.
Nathan Bech, 51, instructed the Herald this previous week that he’s “considering” difficult Markey, a 79-year-old who was first elected to public workplace within the early Seventies and has served within the U.S. Senate since 2013.
“I think he’s too old. I think he’s too old to run for another six-year term,” Bech stated of Markey in an interview.
Bech, who additionally serves on the Massachusetts Republican State Committee and spent six years on the West Springfield city council, is a minimum of the second Republican to weigh a marketing campaign towards Markey.
John Deaton, who unsuccessfully challenged U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren final yr, has stated he’s additionally debating a run towards Markey. However Deaton beforehand stated he doesn’t wish to run towards a Trump-endorsed candidate in a possible Republican major.
Bech served for many of his life within the navy, together with within the Military Reserves and the Massachusetts Nationwide Guard. He has additionally deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq with the Military’s tenth Mountain Division, a unit based mostly at Fort Drum, New York.
He at present serves stints within the Military Reserves and has climbed as much as the rank of lieutenant colonel. He most just lately went to Poland, his first tour with NATO, the place he was a civil liaison staff chief.
He stated he selected to hitch the navy after his dad and mom stated they might not afford to ship him to an “expensive college” and that he “better come up with your own plan to pay for college.”
“That’s when I went to the federal building in Springfield. I’m 17 years old, and at that time, it was on Main Street. I walked the hallway — Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard. They were all in the hallway, same hallway, and I said, ‘Hey, I’m 17. I want to go to college. You know, what can you do for me?’ And the Army Reserve recruiter offered me the best deal,” Bech stated.
Bech can also be recognized for his work campaigning towards a possible on line casino in West Springfield after lawmakers legalized on line casino playing within the state. He stated he discovered in 2013, whereas he was deployed in Africa, that the Laborious Rock was making an attempt to place a on line casino in his hometown.
“I came home early from the deployment. I gave up my job, I gave up my paycheck to come home to West Springfield and organize a campaign because part of the state law that was passed was that any city or town that’s going to host a casino has to vote on the host contract,” he stated.
The city rejected a proposal for a on line casino in September 2013.
Bech first ran for statewide workplace in 2008, when he unsuccessfully tried to problem U.S. Rep. John Olver for his First Congressional District seat. Olver received with greater than 72% of the ballots forged in comparison with Bech’s 27%, in line with state information.
Bech additionally ran towards state Rep. Michael Finn, a West Springfield Democrat, in 2014 however misplaced after Finn secured greater than 56% of the vote in comparison with his 43%, in line with state information.
Bech stated he additionally commonly conducts Christian jail ministry at a facility in Ludlow.
“It’s a chance for volunteers to tell their stories and to share our struggles and experiences, and then it allows the inmates to open up about their struggles and experiences. And it’s a chance to talk about turning over a new leaf,” he stated.
In the meantime, Markey is stocking up on money…
As Bech weighs whether or not to run towards Markey, the U.S. senator plans to carry a fundraiser subsequent weekend on the Willowbend Nation Membership in Mashpee, the place tickets begin at $1,000, in line with an invitation obtained by the Herald.
The chairs of the fundraiser embrace heavyweights in Massachusetts — Pink Sox Chairman Tom Werner, automotive magnate Herb Chambers, public relations boss George Regan and his spouse, and former U.S. Ambassador to Denmark and Beacon Capital founder Alan Leventhal, the invite stated.
Prompt contribution ranges for the Aug. 16 occasion additionally embrace a $3,500 “sponsor” class and a $7,000 “co-chair” class, in line with the invite.
Markey had a formidable $2.5 million stashed away in his marketing campaign account as of the tip of June, in line with federal marketing campaign finance data. He raised almost $1.4 million between Jan. 1 and June 30 and spent one other $669,540 throughout the identical interval, data present.
