In the heart of Springfield, Mass., a primary race to unseat State Representative Bud Williams is once again underway – with both a returning challenger and a community advocate on the ballot – plus another advocate mounting a write-in campaign.
Two years ago, during the Democratic primaries, Johnnie Ray McKnight came up about 250 votes short of unseating Bud Williams in the state’s 11th Hampden district.
The state reported over a hundred ballots left the race “blank.” McKnight would later claim not following up with voters interested in picking the local teacher cost him, as well.
Now, McKnight’s back on the ballot and has been campaigning for almost a year. But he’s not alone.
“I'm telling you that we want to be a better Springfield and we want to be united and make things happen and make sure resources and funding are coming into our community, so our children, our seniors, our homeowners, our renters are being taken care of and things are getting done,” said candidate Nicole Coakley at a recent candidate forum. “We need new leadership and that would be Nicole Denise Coakley.”
Speaking at an Aug. 19 forum at Mt. Zion Baptist Church, Nicole Coakley, a mental health therapist and executive director of “Gun Violence Elimination Alliance Inc.,” is also vying for the district – an area once long-represented by the late-community and civil rights leader, Benjamin Swan, before Williams took office in 2017.
Coakley is a familiar face in the city – she’s frequently taken part in neighborhood and city-wide causes, often standing against gun violence and for more youth resources.
She’s also not new to politics. Most recently, in 2025, she came close to winning a council seat. Like McKnight, confronting affordability and frustrations with alleged inaction in the district are part of her pitch.
“… and when we have a state legislator that's not doing their job and not making sure that the money that's on Beacon Hill is coming into our community and back into the pockets of the working families, that's an issue,” she said. “And you can't tell me that what you haven't done in 20 years, you're going to get done in two years…”
For two election cycles now, McKnight has made a similar case, claiming the 11th Hampden, which occupies much of the city’s geographic center and some of its most densely-populated neighborhoods, would be better served by new ideas.
A frequent critic of Williams, McKnight spent the same candidate forum chastising what considers the incumbent’s minimal presence in the district, at one point questioning where the Williams’s district office is while also emphasizing now is a time for active collaboration.
“It’s about building those coalitions and going to the State House with power, of saying that ‘We’re not going to take no for an answer. We're going to fight you tooth and nail, so Springfield gets their fair share,’ and that's what we really need to do - we need to go down to Boston and make sure that they know that we have real representation with real people backing them,” McKnight said. “Right now, we don't have that representation in Boston. We have a state representative that had four committees assigned to him two years ago - now down to one.”
Previously a mayoral and city council candidate, McKnight is a middle school math teacher in the city. His time as a teacher and mentor has figured prominently in his election pitch. So, too, has his story of dealing with the aftermath of being incarcerated as a youth – something shared with another candidate who has been mounting a write-in campaign, Donnell Wright.
“I’m here to tell you that I am the blueprint,” Wright said. “I've been through the drugs. I've been through the gangs, I've been through the homelessness. I've been through the evictions. I've been through the joblessness and through the grace of God, He has brought me through all of that, because my mother always told me to keep your eyes on the Lord, and I'm telling you right now that my life is a blueprint for young people because I've overcome many of the difficulties that they're going to be facing in their lives.”
A social worker and empowerment advocate by trade, Wright argues he’s uniquely qualified for the job, after spending years going back-and-forth to Boston, advocating on Beacon Hill with groups like the ACLU.
All three candidates took part in the church forum , Williams himself was absent from the event, as well as others leading up to September. Speaking with WAMC at a recent forum focused on gun violence, the former Springfield city councilor says he has a track record that often gets buried beneath his opponents’ pitches.
It’s one that’s more recently included stepping in and advocating for park and green space rehabilitation, keeping a post office location in the city’s Pine Point neighborhood open as well as a local roadway Springfield College had sought to close.
“Experience matters, and we're dealing with Trump… I think in Massachusetts, we've done a real good job deflecting a lot of Trump, from Social Security to food stamps to college - all of that,” he said. “And I think, at this time, we need a steady hand and experience matters. I mean, I'm a chairperson in Boston - I can go into the speaker's office, I can go to the governor's office…”
When asked about the multiple opponents he’s face this election cycle, Williams said everyone has a right to run for office.
Primary day in Massachusetts is Tuesday, Sept. 1.
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This piece originally aired on Friday, Aug. 28, 2026.
