Facing a primary challenge, Massachusetts Congressman Richard Neal says he’s focused on affordability and combatting the president’s agenda.
Considered the “Dean” of the Massachusetts House delegation, the 77-year-old Democrat is once again seeking re-election, hoping to close in on almost 40 years of representing western Mass. in Washington.
He tells WAMC that, if national momentum keeps up, he could soon be back to leading the powerful Ways & Means Committee with a Democratic majority in the House.
“I think the candidate quality on our side is really outstanding - I have helped [candidates] with their messaging, helped them with their fundraising and have also pointed out that a durable majority is what we should be focused on,” he told WAMC in a phone interview. “I think that the Senate is now in play - the president's [approval] numbers are now in the mid 30s, and I think that that is not a good forecast for Republicans going into the November elections, and I think they know it.”
A number of polls concur, though Neal adds that there are still over four months left before November’s general election.
There’s also only three months before his primary. Neal is facing a challenge from Jeromie Whalen, a South Hadley resident and Northampton High School teacher who has been canvassing throughout the 1st district over the past year.
If he clears the primary, Neal is also cued up to face anti-corporate activist and independent candidate Nadia Milleron. While she and Whalen have taken aim at Neal’s tenure on the campaign trail, the former mayor of Springfield says his message has been focused on affordability.
“The price hikes that the American people are feeling are very difficult for them to balance. Even though salaries went up by an average of 3 percent last year, when inflation goes up by 4.2 percent that's still a loss, and that cuts into a spending power, and I think people are feeling it everywhere,” he said when asked about his own campaign’s messaging.
That, and charting a path for dealing with the worst effects of the “One Big Beautiful Bill” Act signed into law last year.
Since becoming law, Neal has repeatedly emphasized what he and local healthcare providers believe will be detrimental changes to Medicaid and other government programs.
It’s what led in-part to a special forum he hosted last year with leadership from Baystate Health, focused on an annual $146 million hit the healthcare provider and western Mass. employer is likely to face.
“The proposed cuts to Medicare and Medicaid, in particular with Medicaid - a trillion dollars’ worth of cuts over the next ten years - are going to be very harmful to our hospitals, very harmful to our citizens and it's going to cut back on the great advances that we have made with the Affordable Care Act,” he said.
Neal has previously said most of the largest cuts and changes, including those affecting food assistance programs like SNAP, are set to go into effect after November – which he says is no coincidence – timing intended to avoid having an effect on the midterms, he and other Democrats have alleged.
In the meantime, though, normal business continues - complete with Neal announcing funding and awards throughout the 1st district.
The past few months alone have included news of earmarks and grants ranging from over a million dollars for MCLA's Early Education center in North Adams, another million or so secured for park renovations in Springfield and a number of earmarks for infrastructure designed to keep raw sewage and other discharges out of the Connecticut River.
It’s in addition to various big ticket bills and funding that’s cleared the House Ways and Means committee in the past – with implications often going beyond just western Mass.
“… and I think we’ve been very effective, whether it was in the rescue package - making sure that people actually received a salary during the worst moments of the pandemic, the role that we played in the Inflation Reduction Act, in terms of environmental achievement…” he said. “When you look at the Butch Lewis Act and what we're able to do to save pensions, the CHIPS Act comes to mind - all of this, I think, happened during my time as chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, and I intend to revisit some of the President's proposals for cuts.”
Neal and other Democrats said as much in a recent Politico piece, with extending ACA health insurance subsidies and restoring various tax credits and provisions being among their hopes if they secure a majority in November.
As for his opponents, Neal has had little to say about either his primary or potential general election challengers – a trend largely in keeping with previous elections.
On top of criticizing Neal for declining to attend a later-canceled candidate forum on June 16, his opponents have also continued to go after the sheer amount of corporate donations his campaign has received.
When asked about the criticism, Neal referred WAMC to a recent AFL-CIO endorsement he received - evidence that his support comes from across a variety of groups and donor classes, he says.
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This piece originally aired on Thursday, June 25, 2026.
