Patrick Roath for Congress - The Boston Globe
For all the talk this election season about generational change, real change isn’t simply about age. It has become a kind of shorthand for acknowledging changing priorities, changing attitudes, and jettisoning the complacency that often comes with long-term service.
The Eighth Congressional District today is a sprawling collection of urban and suburban areas that runs from Southie, the North End, and Back Bay in Boston, into Quincy, Brockton, Weymouth — bits and pieces of four counties. (A constant reminder that Massachusetts was the state that gave the world the word gerrymander.)
For the past 25 years the district has been represented by Stephen Lynch. By and large Lynch has done a perfectly serviceable job of representing his constituents. But the district has changed in those 25 years — not just its borders, but its demographics (average age 39.6 years) and the concerns of its population.
Patrick Roath, who just happens to be 39, a lawyer seasoned in government by virtue of his ser…