Massachusetts Democrat Stephen Lynch is punching back at a liberal opponent challenging his 24 years in Congress, with Lynch chafing at descriptions of himself as part of the “corrupt status quo politics.”

Patrick Roath, a Jamaica Plain attorney and voting rights advocate, is running against the 70-year-old Lynch in the 8th congressional district – part of a nationwide wave of younger left wing candidates taking on entrenched Democratic incumbents.

Roath has received high profile endorsements from former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick and progressive organization Leaders We Deserve, founded by gun safety advocate David Hogg, a former top official in the Democratic National Committee.

Hogg recently split from the national party because he refused to stop supporting intra-party challenges against incumbent Democrats.

Roath’s campaign against Lynch, a South Boston moderate, shows the fracture the Democratic Party is facing in the mid-term election.

“Leaders We Deserve exists to elect young compelling candidates who will actually fight for working families and against corrupt status quo politics,” Hogg said in a statement put out by Roath’s campaign.

Lynch campaign spokesperson Scott Ferson blasted Roath and Hogg in a statement to the Herald.

“Patrick Roath is a corporate lawyer who grew up in the most affluent town in Connecticut – he went to work for Ropes and Gray – the type of union-busting firm that drove Steward Health Care into the ground,” Ferson said. “He should be careful throwing around words like “corrupt.”

Roath and Hogg have also attacked Lynch for voting for funding for ICE and voting against the Affordable Care Act.

“After almost a quarter century of Congressman Lynch, voters in MA-08 are ready for change,” Roath said. “They want bold leadership on the issues that matter most: housing costs, childcare affordability, and protecting our democracy.”

Roath served as speechwriter for Patrick and the Obama White House and is a former chair of Common Cause Massachusetts.

Lynch has easily beaten back Republican opponents over the past few decades, and his seat is considered reliably safe for Democrats, who are trying to take back the House from Republicans.

Some Lynch backers have criticized Hogg and others for running candidates against moderates like the South Boston Democrat.

A centrist Democratic organization named WelcomePAC says Roath’s campaign is “emblematic of what’s going wrong in national Democratic politics.”

“Lynch is the single highest-overperforming House Democrat in 2024 relative to Kamala Harris,” a spokesman for WelcomePAC said. “He received 22,809 more votes than Harris in his district…If Democrats are trying to understand what ‘matching your district’ looks like, Lynch is the answer.”

Hogg said Lynch’s vote against the Affordable Care Act shows “it’s beyond time for new leadership” a claim that Lynch is fighting hard to reject.

“Steve Lynch grew up in the housing projects, became president of the Ironworkers Union and has been fighting for working people since he arrived in Congress,” Ferson said. “The contrast couldn’t be starker.”

Lynch is hardly alone at being forced to defend his record after years of easy election days.

A number of entrenched incumbents across the country are facing challenges mostly from the left, socialist wing of the party led by Sen. Bernie Sanders and New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani.

In Massachusetts, 80-year-old Ed Markey is trying to cling to power against a challenge from U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton. Both are running as left wingers, though Moulton has been under attack because of his comments against trans women competing in female sports.

Patrick Roath (Courtesy of Roath campaign)

Sen. Ed Markey (Herald file)