Less than a month before the Sept. 1 primary, several candidate forums are on tap from Springfield to Easthampton and Greenfield to help voters decide who to choose in three contested races: U.S. representative in Congress, the Massachusetts 1st Franklin District and the Governor’s Council District 8.
Easthampton forum
A forum for only Democratic candidates seeking a seat as U.S. representative in Congress and for the Governor’s Council will be held at Easthampton High School on Monday, Aug. 10.
Doors will open 30 minutes before the roughly two-hour forum starts at 6 p.m. Candidates will give opening statements followed by the forum’s moderator, South Hadley Town Moderator John Hine, asking questions.
Democratic candidates seeking to represent the Massachusetts 1st Congressional District will be asked questions following opening statements. Democratic candidates include incumbent Richard Neal and South Hadley resident Jeromie Whalen, but only Whalen has agreed to participate, as of Wednesday. Nadia Milleron of Sheffield is running as an Independent and was not invited.
Organizers told the Gazette if Neal does not attend, Whalen will open the forum answering questions from the moderator by himself.
Candidates for the Governor’s Council District 8 seat will then alternate answering questions, including incumbent Tara Jacobs of North Adams and challenger Michael Fenton of Springfield. The district covers all of western Massachusetts and includes 102 cities and towns across Hampden, Hampshire, Franklin and Berkshire counties.
Jacobs is running for her third, two-year term on the Council. She claimed the seat’s primary in 2022 in a narrowly won four-way contest, with Fenton coming up 2,300 votes shy. Jacobs was then reelected after running unopposed in 2024.
A meet-and-greet will be held after the forum for visitors to speak with candidates. While locally there are no contested races for state representatives for the House and Senate, incumbents have been invited to make a statement during the forum and attend the meet and greet.
Other US rep forums
Two other candidate forums featuring the 1st Congressional District are scheduled this month.
First up is an in-person forum dubbed “Democracy Starts Here” on Tuesday, Aug. 11, from 6:30 to 8 p.m., at 52 Sumner Avenue in Springfield.
Whalen and Milleron have agreed to take part in the event, organized by a total of 44 local organizations, including the The Springfield League of Women Voters. Neal has not responded to invitations to participate, according to organizers.
Visitors must obtain a free ticket to attend, with a capacity of 350 attendees. Ticket reservations were 50% sold out as of late July. Tickets can be found at eventbrite.com.
Questions submitted prior by the public and audience questions submitted in writing will be asked, after being reviewed by a nonpartisan moderator. Candidates will be given equal time to respond, in an alternating format. The forum will be recorded and broadcast by
Focus Springfield Community Television, with additional broadcasts planned on public
access television stations throughout central and western Massachusetts.
Then on Wednesday, Aug. 26, 22News will host a live televised debate from 12:30 to 1 p.m., followed by its rebroadcast at 7 p.m.
Whalen and Neal will take part in the debate, which is the only debate or forum that Neal has agreed to take part in leading into the primary. Milleron will not participate, according to 22News.
“Everywhere I go, people tell me the same thing,” Neal said in a statement about the debate. “Everything costs more and the paycheck doesn’t go as far. That’s the conversation I want to have. What groceries cost. What a prescription costs. What families are paying for health insurance. And what I can actually do about it.”
The statement says that the debate is part of a summer schedule that Neal has followed in communities across all four counties of the district.
In a Facebook post, Whalen claimed that Neal hasn’t held an in-person town hall since 2017 and has “shirked his responsibility to meet with constituents, to the point that he’s agreed to give you just 30 minutes” for the debate.
1st Franklin District rep.
After state Rep. Natalie Blais resigned on Jan. 19, Speaker of the House Ronald Mariano opted not to call a special election to replace her, leading Blais’ seat to remain open until the November election. The winner will be sworn in next January to represent the 1st Franklin District following the Democratic primary on Sept. 1 and general election on Nov. 3.
The three candidates competing for the seat — Lora Wondolowski, the Greenfield City Council president, Corinne Coryat, Blais’ former aide, and Independent candidate Amy Lavallee, the Whately town clerk — will discuss food access, farm viability and the district’s local food system at a forum on Tuesday, Aug. 11, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., at Shelburne Falls Memorial Hall.
The Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture (CISA), Food Bank of Western Massachusetts, Franklin Land Trust, Stone Soup Café, Shelburne Falls Memorial Hall Association and Two Town News organized the forum to zero in on these “undoubtedly linked” issues, as moderator Monte Belmonte, co-host of the Fabulous 413 at New England Public Media, described.
“Franklin County is such a rural community by and large, and there are so many amazing farms that give Franklin County its character, so the people of Franklin County want to make sure that the person who’s going to represent us on Beacon Hill has a clear understanding of those priorities,” Belmonte said. “Given that Franklin County is one of the poorest communities in Massachusetts, how hunger impacts Franklin County is also another important piece of what we want our representation to know about, and how hunger and the farming community… dovetail with one another is a huge piece of making sure our neighbors have enough to eat.”
The three candidates will answer questions focused on food and farming from the forum’s co-sponsors and audience. Attendees can ask questions at the forum or submit questions beforehand through this online form: https://tinyurl.com/ykfmskcd.
On Thursday, Aug. 20, the League of Women Voters of Franklin County, Greenfield Recorder, Greenfield Community College and GCTV, will co-host a debate for the Democratic candidates, Wondolowski and Coryat, ahead of the primary. The event will kick off at 7 p.m. in GCC’s Dining Commons.
Ashfield Town Moderator Buz Eisenberg will moderate questions from the audience along with the forum’s panel, which includes Greenfield Recorder Managing Editor Shelby Brock and Marie Gauthier, president of the League of Women Voters of Franklin County.
“Our mission is to engage and help others be informed going to the ballot box,” Gauthier said. “We want everyone to vote, but we also want people to know who and what they’re voting for — we want them to be informed.”
Attendees can email questions beforehand to lwvfranklincounty@gmail.com or ask in-person at the forum.
Looking ahead, Gauthier said the league plans on organizing another forum for the 1st Franklin District race closer to the November general election.
Governor’s Council District 8 seat
The League of Women Voters of Franklin County, Recorder and GCTV will co-host a forum spotlighting candidates for the Governor’s Council District 8 seat. Incumbent Tara Jacobs and challenger Michael Fenton will face off in the Greenfield Community Television (GCTV) studio on Tuesday, Aug. 11, at 5 p.m. ahead of the primary.
With limited space in the GCTV studio, viewers can tune into the livestream on GCTV’s YouTube channel.
Gauthier described the forum as an opportunity for voters to learn more about the candidates’ views and the council’s role.
Eisenberg will moderate the discussion with a panel, including Gauthier, civil rights lawyer and podcaster Bill Newman and Greenfield Recorder reporter Madison Schofield. The league encourages those interested in the event to submit questions in advance by emailing lwvfranklincounty@gmail.com. The deadline for questions is noon on Monday, Aug. 10.
