Challenged before but rarely tested, Stephen Lynch may finally have a ‘tossup’ primary in 8th District - The Boston Globe
To active Democrats in Boston and its southern suburbs, the primary for the Eighth Congressional District is one of the most exciting races in years: Voters’ mailboxes are filling with campaign fliers, and at a time when dissatisfaction with long-serving incumbents is running high, some polls show the challenger closing in.
You just wouldn’t know it from watching the incumbent, Stephen Lynch, actually campaign.
“We’re in good shape,” the South Boston Democrat said last week, smiling with confidence and nonchalance after a candidate forum in Weymouth, his first with challenger Patrick Roath this cycle. “I think we’ll be happy with the result.”
For Lynch, 71, a contested primary is not new. But Roath, , a 39-year-old attorney and former Deval Patrick aide, is trying to exploit a restive Democratic base anxious for fresh voices in Washington, accusing the more moderate Lynch of clinging to “politics of the past” and aiming to energize voters in ways his progressive predecessors hadn’t — d…