LYNN — Director of Elder Services Christopher Gomez announced his decision to run for Ward 4 city councilor Wednesday night — making him the third candidate running for incumbent Councilor Richard Colucci’s more than three-decade position.
Gomez announced his run at Ward 2 candidate Obed Matul’s campaign kickoff event at the Broadway restaurant Rolly’s Tavern on the Square. After playing a crucial role in creating the Lynn Senior Center and overseeing it for the past two years, Gomez said he wants to expand his service to all of Ward 4.
In 2021 the city hired Gomez, who at the time worked for the city’s health department, as the director of elder services. In an interview Thursday morning, Gomez said that he accepted a job offer with Beverly’s council on aging and would start March 13.
Before leaving the senior center he had created March 10, Gomez said that he decided to run for city council in the hopes of continuing to help Ward 4 Lynners even after taking the Beverly job.
“I’m very passionate about the people in this city — I love the city so much that I felt bad leaving the senior center and I wanted to continue helping the city. I think this is the best way I could do it, being a Ward 4 councilor,” Gomez said.
During his campaign, Gomez hopes to hold a Ward 4 forum to address potential issues in the ward. He said that, if elected, he would take measures to grow the workforce, tackle rat infestations and littering problems, and look for ways to support small businesses.
In the days following Colucci’s announcement that he would not run for re-election Jan. 30, School Committee member Donna Coppola and Natasha Megie-Maddrey, a lawyer and second-grade teacher at Connery Elementary, both announced their plans to run.
Megie-Maddrey ran for the Ward 4 city council chair in 2019 and in 2021, when she lost to Colucci by a 59-vote margin. Colucci endorsed Coppola in a Jan. 30 letter announcing his decision not to run for re-election.
“I would like to see a Ward 4 councilor replacement that is compassionate and experienced. My friend Donna Coppola has these qualities, and I wish her well in her campaign,” Colucci wrote in January.
Gomez said that despite Megie-Maddrey’s near-win against Colucci in 2021 and Coppola’s endorsement, he’s confident that his experience working in City Hall will play a role in voters’ decisions this November.
“I have a unique knowledge that they don’t have — I worked for the city and ran the Senior Center. I know a lot of the nuances that come with working for the city and the internal parts of how the city works,” he said.
His motivation for running, Gomez said, was the same aspect of running the senior center that he enjoyed most — helping people.
“I like to help people and I’m compassionate. I’m passionate about Lynn as a whole and I want to be a ward councilor so I can help the constituents of Ward 4 and make it an even better place to be,” Gomez said.
