Polls will be closing in a few hours in Massachusetts as the state’s primary elections come to an end. For most candidates in the Pioneer Valley, there wasn’t much of a contest, but it’s been a different story in the region’s biggest city.
In Hampshire County, Easthampton City Council President Homar Gomez is the only Democratic candidate seeking the 2nd Hampshire House seat.
Nearby in the 4th Hampden district race, Westfield Ward 3 City Councilor Bridget Matthews-Kane is the only candidate on the Democratic ballot for the contest. Also unopposed is her likely Republican opponent in November – incumbent Representative Kelly Pease.
But in Springfield, both a local House and Senate primary have been called two of the most competitive contests in the region, according to Secretary of State Bill Galvin.
Springfield Ward 4 City Councilor Malo Brown is running for the Hampden district state Senate seat, held by Adam Gomez, while the 11th Hampden House race features Representative Bud Williams against local educator Johnnie Ray McKnight.
Casting her ballot at the Rebecca Johnson School Tuesday afternoon, Crystal Copeland told WAMC said that while she didn’t want to name who she voted for, change was on the top of her mind.
“I will say what matters most is change. Things have been the same way for decades, and it's time for change,” she said. “It's time for some structure to happen. It's time for some rehabs to happen. It's time for change to happen, especially in our Brown community … and we need some of these street walkers to be off our streets.”
Pamela Jongbloed also kept her vote a secret.
“I think they all have their strong points, and they all have their detriments, and I think you just have to pick the candidate that you think is going to do the best job for you,” she told WAMC.
When it comes to incumbents, Williams has been involved in Springfield politics for over three decades, whether it be on the city council or on Beacon Hill. In the Senate race is Gomez, who was also a councilor before winning a 2020 primary and going on to capture the state senate seat.
Williams’s challenger, McKnight, has previously made bids for both the mayorship and city council that fell short. The Springfield teacher has said door-knocking was a big component of his campaign as he worked to raise name awareness.
As for the Senate race, Malo Brown’s campaign spent a great deal of time on the offensive, culminating, in-part, in a Focus Springfield debate last month that ended with both candidates leveling accusations.
“There's been a lot of back-and-forth when it comes to the State Senate that I've noticed,” she said. “I lean towards what I see happen in real life, not what's going on on social media, so things that are happening in the streets, things that are happening on the ground - that's what I pay attention to, and I vote towards those that actually do change, speak change and actually implement the change as well.”
Polls close at 8 p.m.
Galvin has told the public he expects voter turnout to be around 15 percent. Promoting early voting nearly two weeks ago, he stopped in Springfield where he announced that as of late August, his office turned out almost a million mail-in ballots to those requesting them.
In addition to the Hampden House and Senate races, he added the Republican U.S. Senate primary would also be a significant driver – pitting attorney John Deaton, Quincy City Councilor Ian Cain, and Bob Antonellis against one another to decide who will face Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren.
Contested race or not, Galvin says, voting is always a good thing.
“Since it's so easy to vote, it's always a good thing to vote. I think when your civic credentials, if you will, are burnished when you participate, people know that you're a voter, they know you're a participant, and it's setting a right standard,” he told reporters in front of Springfield City Hall on Wednesday, Aug. 21.
