On Wednesday, Leigh Davis was in Boston to be sworn in as the new state representative for the 3rd Berkshire District. She’s the first new legislator to represent the Southern Berkshires since her predecessor and fellow Democrat Smitty Pignatelli took office in 2003. Davis entered the race to succeed Pignatelli last year as the vice chair of the Great Barrington selectboard and beat out two competitors in the September primary before triumphing over independent candidate Marybeth Mitts in November’s general election. After months of campaigning, she’s now faced with navigating the halls of Beacon Hill as a brand-new legislator. Davis spoke with WAMC Berkshire Bureau Chief Josh Landes about her plans for the two-year term and what it was like to be sworn into office.
DAVIS: It was unbelievable. I feel incredibly grateful and supported, and it was quite a day. I'm grateful to have my three kids with me and team of supporters. It was a long day. I stayed overnight the night before with the kids, and just met so many new colleagues, new friends, and just really feel honored to have this opportunity to help the 3rd Berkshire district and be part of this democracy. So, it was an eventful day, it was a long day.
WAMC: Let's turn to what that work might look like in the coming session. What are you hearing from leaders on Beacon Hill? What are you hearing from your party? Do you have a sense right now of what some of the legislative goals are going to be for the 2025-2026 session?
Yeah, I think obviously, with the transition on a federal level, with our new administration coming in, there's a lot of folks that are unsettled, because we don't really quite know what to expect with some cuts to funding and whether the state's going to need to kind of step in and fill in those gaps. So, I think we're all bracing ourselves and hoping for the best but preparing for the worst, so I think it's going to be a bit of wait and see, and how can we shore up what we have and make sure that the money that has been appropriated comes to the state, and really preparing our towns for a possibility that there will be significant cuts, and that could be cuts to nonprofits, could be cuts to infrastructure funds that we're used to getting from the state. So, I think a little bit is wait and see and prepare and hope for the best. But I think that the administration is well prepared, and they're going to go into this new legislative session with all guns firing and ready to do the job. So, I'm feeling very, very confident, especially after seeing the show of support from the Healey administration.
Now, as far as your own objectives and your own goals, at this point, what are you planning on taking on legislatively as you prepare for your maiden voyage into the Beacon Hill process?
There's so many issues that we're all addressing, and I have 18 unique communities that I'll be representing. But, there's kind of a through line that's going on, and the more I speak to constituents, and through these nine months of campaigning, there's a few that rise to the top. So, one of them is affordable access to housing and to healthcare. Those seem to be really the pillars, and there's a lot of uncertainty. So, I think with our aging demographics, a lot of folks really care about having access to healthcare, and what does it look like if I have to wait nine months to find a healthcare provider for our dentist? So, I think we need to shore up that, and hand in hand, that goes with providing housing for our workers. So, I believe that Fairview Hospital is having difficulty in filling some of the roles, and a lot of it is due to a shortage of housing. And housing could be workforce housing, it could be affordable housing, could be senior housing, but we need a place to house our workers. And tied to that is economic development- We need to create jobs, we need to create the ability to increase the tax base for towns, and have something that's innovative and that brings this population to increasing and not decreasing. So, there's a lot of issues that are tied and interrelated, but I would say healthcare access and housing is probably on the forefront of some of those issues that I'll be focusing on. Another one is the environment. So, we are very blessed to have these natural resources, but climate resiliency is something that we have to focus more on and climate mitigation. So, I think that having, being blessed with the small farms that we have and the agriculture and the traditional that we have here, I think that we can use that to our advantage, and we can look at sustainability and working with our farmers and finding that path to really creating economic development that helps our agriculture and that helps the natural resources and protects them. So, those are things I'm really focused on and doing a lot of listening, and hoping to take that listening and be impactful at the State House.
Leigh, anything about your first week or so – or several days, rather – of being state rep I have not thought to ask you that you want to make sure folks understand?
Well, right now I'm working on new legislation. So, we have a filing deadline of January 17th, and often freshmen aren't expected to file so early. I was just sworn in [Wednesday], my aide doesn't start till the 6th, so I have a lot to do very quickly to set up an office. But I am very, very committed to doing all that I can to help this district. So, I've been meeting with constituents, meeting with groups, and I'd like to get some bills filed that speak directly to the district and to the needs and challenges of the district. So, I'm going to be working hard these next couple weeks, meetings and drafting some legislation and looking at other legislation that I can sign on to. So, I'm very, very excited. This is something that I think I'm naturally drawn to, and the combination of listening to constituents needs and also drafting legislation, I think it would be good fit for me. So right now, I'm kind of really honing in on what I can do to make the biggest impact for this next session.
Lastly, where are you housed office-wise on Beacon Hill? Where'd they put you?
Well, I just found out that I am going to be in the bullpen, I think in D1 for a few weeks, if not a month. So, we're going to be sitting side by side with freshmen, and some of them I've already gotten to know through the legislators’ academy that we had last month. And we'll be doing the best we can. I'll be working from home when I'm not at the State House. I intend to be at the State House at least twice a week, if not three, to really get to know things and have the important meetings. What I realize is that being a legislator is a lot about honing in on relationships and building relationships and trust, finding your partners and finding the people that are aligned with your values. So, a lot of the time I’ll be spending in Boston will be really strengthening those relationships and building them and finding what's going on throughout the commonwealth. So, some of the issues that we have here, there's other towns that are facing the same issues, and what can I learn from them, and bringing that back to the district.
