Democratic State Representative Paul Mark has over a decade of experience on Beacon Hill. The union member from rural Peru represents the 2nd Berkshire District, which will soon be eliminated as Western Massachusetts’ population growth lagged.
“The reason I'm running for the Senate is because redistricting caused our Senate seat to be potentially on the chopping block," said Mark. "And to prevent our district from being split up, half ending up in the Northampton district and half ending up in the Westfield district, I made the commitment to run to preserve our voice so that we wouldn't lose that important seat that covers the entire county and we wouldn't dilute our voice any further in the statehouse. We have an opportunity for the first time, I think, since the 1960s to have a House member run for the Senate. So, to have a Senator who comes in on day one with actual legislative experience- It hasn't happened in decades.”
Mark has been endorsed by Democrats across the state as well as the last person to hold the seat — Adam Hinds, who resigned in September at the end of his third term to take over the Edward Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate in Boston. Hinds unsuccessfully ran for lieutenant governor in the Democratic primary.
Political newcomer Brendan Phair is a paraprofessional from Pittsfield. A conservative, he’s running as an unenrolled candidate.
“I'm pro-life," said Phair. "I'm against abortion on demand. I'm also against taxpayer funding of abortion. And I'm against taking the lives of babies because they have Down syndrome or spina bifida. I'm also pro-second amendment, I support constitutional carry, and I support any shall issue carry permit system. I'm pro-energy. I support an ‘all of the above’ approach to our heating needs, and I support your right to purchase, own, and operate a gas-operated vehicle here in Massachusetts. I'm against the 2035 electric vehicle mandate, and I would have voted against it. I am pro-business, pro-tax cut, and pro-tax relief.”
Mark and Phair differ on predicably divisive issues: The Democrat supports the Fair Share Amendment that would tax the state’s wealthiest residents to pay for infrastructure projects and public education, while the conservative opposes it. Phair says the state’s 2020 police reform bill was completely unnecessary, while Mark praised the new trainings it offers law enforcement. While Phair is adamantly against access to abortion, Mark supports expanding and codifying it.
WAMC asked the candidates to offer a vision of the future. Will the quality of life in Western Massachusetts improve or decrease in the years to come? Mark offered a bullish response.
“I think we're poised right now to take advantage of opportunities that didn't exist 10, 20, even 30 years ago," he said. "I think the investments that we've made in broadband infrastructure are making our area more attractive to people that have the ability to work remotely, or have the ability to be educated remotely. And I think the investments we're making and planning on making in the future in transportation are also going to be a key component of how we put this amazing region at the forefront of people's minds as they're considering, whether they're considering where to live or where to place a business.”
Phair said he sees a region struggling to make ends meet and hemorrhaging population.
“I think there's a disparity in demographics," he said. "It appears that people in the middle, the working class, middle class, are moving out. And we're getting people from out of state who are wealthy, that's great. But we're displacing people who were born here and raised here. So we have this gap, this income gap, between very poor people and very wealthy people, and it's the people in the middle who are deciding to leave. They may not qualify for food stamps and transitional assistance, and they're the ones that are moving for other economic opportunities.”
One of the debate’s most interesting exchanges came when Phair was allowed to ask Mark a direct question.
“Should we as a society allowed doctors to perform life altering, irreversible sex change surgeries on kids under the age of 18?” he asked.
“I suppose a person that would want to go through that is not doing it because they think it's recreational or because they think that it's something fun," answered Mark. "I think that what's most important is, does the young person that is experiencing whatever they're experiencing, whether it's bullying in the classroom, whether it's a feeling of not being accepted, and hopefully not by parents, hopefully parents are engaged in any kind of situation like that, but I think what's most important is that if you're a doctor, obviously, you're following what you know the best practices are. I haven't met many physicians that go into medicine to try to do something that is going to result in their patient- First, do no harm, right? So I would like to think that if a doctor and a patient come to a decision, that it's the right decision, it's the smart decision. And I think it's important that in almost any case, whether it's choice, whether it's gender affirming care, that the government stays out of it, that the government lets people make the decisions that are best for their life. And that that's part of freedom to me.”
The sharp divide between the candidates carried over when both were asked to share their thoughts on the Black Lives Matter movement.
“The Black Lives Matter movement is a Marxist organization," said Phair. "They're anti-life. They're anti-Second Amendment. They're anti-nuclear family. They're anti-Semitic. And they're prone to violence. And all the money that they've raised, they've raised, I believe, $76 million. And it's not going back into our minority communities. That's such a shame. We should be honoring George Floyd, what happened to him was horrible. And for Black Lives Matters to, A, engage and promote violence in 2020 was bad enough. But if people are just taking advantage of victimhood ideology and making money off of it, it's terrible.”
“If I remember correctly, I believe Black Lives Matter began as a hashtag after the Trayvon Martin incident in Florida, where a young man was killed by someone in his neighborhood who was suspicious of him, and obviously was unarmed," said Mark. "And so I think what's most important to talk about as a white person living in extremely white Berkshire County, when I think about the anger that people in different communities must feel, when I think about the persecution that people that don't look like me have felt, it's really hard for me to judge how they should act and judge how they should react. And I think about, again, back to my story, there was a moment where I felt down, I felt out. And I'm lucky- Here I sit with a suit, and I clean up, and people look at me differently, and they talk to me differently. And I think there's a lot of people around this country, and in this state that don't have that same possibility. And I don't blame them for being angry.”
You can hear the full debate here:
The general election is November 8th.
