Markey Leads Gomez in New Suffolk/WHDH Poll

A new Suffolk University/7NEWS (WHDH) poll shows a strong lead for Democratic U.S. Representative Edward Markey over Republican businessman and former U.S. Navy SEAL Gabriel Gomez in the race for the U.S. Senate special election.

The poll of 500 likely voters has Markey at 52 percent and Gomez at 35 percent. Eleven percent of voters in the poll were undecided. A third-party candidate, Richard Heos of the Twelve Visions Party, got 1 percent and another 1 percent refused to respond.

Other polls are showing a much closer race between the candidates, several within single digits.

If Markey does win the election, Belmont's state senator Will Brownsberger will be one of the leading candidates to fill the Fifth Congressional District seat. 

Important dates for the election include:

• Wednesday, June 5: Deadline for voters to register for the special election.

• Tuesday, June 25: Special election

David Paleologos, director of the Suffolk University Political Research Center in Boston, said along with the announcement of the poll that Markey has "a large lead over his Republican opponent who voters are unsure about."

In fact, 32 percent of those polled said they'd heard of Gomez but didn't know enough about him to say whether or not they had a favorable opinion of him.

Voters will head to the polls June 25 to select a replacement for U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry.