EASTHAMPTON — Jeromie Whalen paced from side to side across the Easthampton High School auditorium stage Monday night, dressed casually in a pink Pride shirt from the Massachusetts Teachers Association, which endorsed him this week, along with cargo shorts and sneakers.
Between paces, the former educator laid out his pitch at a candidate forum for why he’s the one who should replace 37-year incumbent Rep. Richard Neal, the seventh-longest-serving member currently in Congress.
Whalen and Neal, of Springfield, are vying for the Democratic nomination in Massachusetts’ 1st Congressional District. The primary is Sept. 1. After the Democratic primary, the winner will face off against independents Nadia Milleron and Anthony Celata on Nov. 3.
More than 100 people attended the forum, to which Neal had been invited but did not attend. Whalen introduced himself as a Belchertown native who was raised among both progressive and conservative people before going on to study history at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
The self-described progressive candidate previously worked as a teacher at Northampton High School and at Northampton Community Television before deciding to run for office.
Over the course of his 83-municipality campaign road trip, covering the entirety of the 1st Congressional District he aspires to lead, Whalen said healthcare costs and fears about immigration enforcement under the Trump administration tend to top the list of community concerns.
Healthcare, he said, has led to ballooning municipal budgets and inevitably contributed to the surge in override requests throughout the region, including in the town where he lives, South Hadley. While the federal government is funding wars and immigration enforcement, it should instead be funneling funds to offset healthcare and other costs, he said.
“We should be getting relief on the federal side,” Whalen said. “If your tax dollars are going out, they should be coming right back into your local communities.”
On the subject of immigration, he described an experience supporting a crying man whose wife had been taken away by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The man was also deported a short time later.
“I stand here and say abolish ICE,” Whalen said, before taking a jab at Neal, saying the congressman was one of 75 Democrats to voice support for ICE.
According to Newsweek, Neal was among 75 Democrats who broke ranks in 2025, joining Republicans in voting for a House resolution condemning antisemitism and expressing “gratitude” for ICE and other law enforcement personnel.
Since then, Neal has called for significant reforms to ICE, emphasizing greater accountability, oversight and limits on the agency’s enforcement practices. Neal has opposed calls to abolish ICE, but said the agency has “moved beyond what they originally set out to do” and criticized what he described as “cruel and inhumane” immigration enforcement tactics.
Whalen also called out Neal for what he believes is a continuing lack of presence in many of the communities he serves. The 1st Congressional District covers the bottom half of Hampshire County, including Easthampton, Belchertown, Granby, South Hadley and Southampton, as well as all of Berkshire and Hampden counties and portions of Franklin and Worcester counties.
“The elephant in the room here is there’s an empty chair on the stage, and rather than come and face your constituents, he’s decided to have tele-town halls with less than 24-hour notice because he doesn’t want to have these tough conversations,” Whalen said. “I’ll stay until the very end after everyone leaves, and I’ll answer any questions you have.”
Whalen also expressed pessimism about newer technologies being rolled out and the need for meaningful regulations.
While touting his experience with technology and his doctorate in mathematics, science and technology from UMass, Whalen said the people currently in charge of legislating AI don’t even know how to log into their social media accounts.
Pointing to concerns about data centers that have arisen in Holyoke, Westfield and Southbridge, Whalen voiced support for a federal bill from Democratic lawmakers Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez that calls for a federal moratorium on data centers.
For Whalen, the push to develop AI is equivalent to “building economic coffins.”
“Corporations are coming in, trying to pillage our resources, and as a result, it’s also building our economic coffins because these algorithms are taking away jobs,” he said. “And these corporations think that they have leverage over these smaller communities that aren’t paying attention.”
Flock Safety cameras, surveillance cameras that can read license plates and even bumper stickers, are also an area of concern for Whalen.
“It’s collecting a lot of information about you that can be used in different ways by a company who stores that data,” he said.
Meanwhile, Whalen expressed his support for universal preschool. He said too many parents are conflicted about whether to stay home or join the workforce while paying thousands of dollars for preschool. The idea would also have the added benefit of letting children begin to socialize at a young age.
On the subject of the state’s workforce, Whalen sounded the alarm about the declining population in central and western Massachusetts.
“We’re looking at a population decline of western and central Massachusetts in the ballpark of 9% over the next decade,” he said. “And if we don’t have individuals moving here and we don’t have new growth and we don’t have new jobs being created, then we’re going to be in a world of hurt.”
The final question of the forum was what committee assignments Whalen may be interested in if he were elected. The former teacher said possibly the Committee on Education & Workforce.
A handful of Democratic Town Committees organized the forum, including those in Belchertown, Easthampton, Granby, Southampton, South Hadley and Worthington.
