With few contested races for the statehouse, most Massachusetts lawmakers held on to their seats Tuesday. But in the lower Pioneer Valley, a rare competitive race came to a head – with a decisive win for the incumbent.
4th Hampden Representative Kelly Pease, a Republican representing most of Westfield and all of Southampton, was outraised and outspent by his challenger in the final months of the election – only to come out on top by almost 18 percentage points.
“It's kind of humbling - it tells me that the people think I'm doing a good job,” he told WAMC Tuesday night, about an hour after polls had closed and results had come in. “They think I'm trying to bring common sense and I'm trying to bring their message and fight for what we need out here in our community down in Boston … and I want to continue doing that.”
Pease had been seeking a third term this year when a Democratic challenger emerged in the form of Westfield Ward 3 City Councilor Bridget Matthews-Kane.
A longtime educator who has been on the council for the past few years, Matthews-Kane amassed a sizable war chest, at one point having over $30,000 in cash on-hand compared to Pease’s September-high of almost $13,000.
But after weeks of canvassing, standouts and fundraisers, the Democrat announced her concession soon after arriving at her election watch party in downtown Westfield, less than an hour after polls closed.
“I come here tonight - I bring you some sad news: I called my opponent and conceded,” she told supporters gathered at the Tribeca Gastro Bar & Grille. “I want to thank all of you for your support: it meant a lot to me. I'm incredibly grateful that we pulled together as a team to work as hard as we did.”
As of Wednesday morning, Matthews-Kane had around 8,900 votes to Pease’s 12,700.
Hugging campaign volunteers and supporters gathered at the restaurant, she said she intends to use lessons learned on the campaign trail to “keep up this fight.”
It was a different story about three miles away at Pease’s home, where family and supporters gathered as the results came in.
Seated at a table with a laptop and Excel spreadsheet, the incumbent was filling in columns with precinct results that ultimately spelled out his victory.
Asked by WAMC about the key to the win, he says smart spending and advertising helped, but in-person engagement can be king.
“The biggest thing that you can't get over is just the word of mouth, from your friends and family and people who support you,” he said. “I mean, that means more than anything. But I think I had a great way forward just by morning standouts … showing people that I’m still working hard for them and I want to continue to serve them.”
Pease added he may hold “thank you” standouts over the next few days.
As for priorities next session, investing in schools and supporting the state’s senior population remain at the top of the list. Improving local water quality and addressing PFAS in the state are up there as well; Pease serves on a PFAS inter-agency task force and looks to implement recommendations made in a lengthy report.
And then there’s the matter of rural roads – trying to expand the state’s usual Chapter 90 funding that gets split between municipalities.
“The Millionaires Tax - half of it was supposed to go to … transportation and half goes to schools and the first half kind of did … like making community college free, and the second half went to transportation, but the majority of that went to MBTA,” Pease says. “And we need to make sure that the Western Mass. delegation, work with my Democratic colleagues out here - we work together well [when] we get a topic that we need to focus on - I think this needs to be the next topic we focus on … money for roads out here in Western Mass.”
