Voters in Westfield and Southampton will decide on Election Day whether to reelect Republican state Rep. Kelly Pease, who has served the 4th Hampden District for six years, or supporting newcomer Colby Hoffman, a Democrat who did not want to leave the incumbent unchallenged.
Ahead of Tuesday’s election, the Gazette interviewed the two candidates, both of whom currently live in Westfield.
Pease, 61, is a veteran who served in the United States Army for 20 years and is a former police officer and select board member for the town of Chester. If reelected for a fourth term, Pease said he will continue doing what he always has — supporting local constituents.
“I enjoy helping constituents when they run into issues,” Pease said. “Across the board, something that you [as a state representative] have to fight for all the time is local aid.”
Hoffman, 38, moved to Westfield in 2019 and works as a customer service specialist at Big Y supermarket in Southwick. With a bachelor’s degree in political science from Central Connecticut State University, Hoffman said running for office has always been on his mind and feels now is the time to do it.
“I love Massachusetts, I love this community,” Hoffman said. “I am someone who made this my home fairly recently with my wife in 2019, and we don’t intend to go anywhere else, and I want to do anything I can to give back to it.”
Affordability
Hoffman said he decided to run after feeling the impacts of President Donald Trump’s second term. He acknowledged that it is a big step to go straight for a seat as state representative, but said he wants to make a change in his community.
“After witnessing the way this country has been moving since Trump returned to office, it seems like things are really going downhill,” Hoffman said. “Unfortunately, it’s trickling down here to Massachusetts.”
Both Hoffman and Pease recognized the increase in Proposition 2½ overrides across the state, including in Southampton, which passed a $1.9 million override for the current fiscal year.
Pease said that rising costs are impacting the budgets of both residents and the communities they live in, particularly increasing healthcare, energy and education costs. Pease said that he has been a staunch advocate for local schools that have been squeezed by transportation and healthcare costs.
“Education is key, and I don’t think we have caught up with how high the price of things have gone,” Pease said, noting that circuit breaker funding has been a particular cost-driver for Westfield, and Hampshire Regional High School has gone through a difficult budget year.
Pease said he has brought new ideas and has been an advocate on the multiple committees he serves, two of which he highlighted are the Higher Education Joint Committee and the House Ways and Means Committee. Pease said he has filed a number of home-rule petitions and amendments to help support Westfield and Southampton, and that he advocates for more unrestricted general government aid for local communities.
With funding from the 2019 Student Opportunity Act, which has provided an estimated $2.3 billion to schools, running out next year, Pease said education funding is crucial now more than ever.
Similar to Pease, Hoffman said education and healthcare should be a priority for Westfield and Southampton, adding that he is an advocate for revisions to Chapter 70, the state education funding formula.
“Prices continue to go up in every aspect of living, and I see that everywhere. State and local budgets are being really squeezed by healthcare costs,” Hoffman said. “Our biggest priorities should be education, education, education. We need to fund our public schools as much as we can.”
Hoffman said he thinks Massachusetts needs to look for healthcare reform, saying that Westfield passed a nonbinding resolution in 2024 in favor of a single-payer healthcare system, which he thinks could be a solution.
“I think the rich are getting richer and at least everyone I know is struggling,” Hoffman said. “I want to be a part of the solution.”
Differing political parties
Both candidates noted that their district is pretty evenly split when it comes to political ideology. Pease said that locally, he doesn’t feel the contest is as much about a Republican versus a Democrat.
“Like I tell people, it doesn’t matter if you are a Republican or a Democrat, if you’re not fighting for local funding for your schools, roads, senior citizens that get pushed out of their house,” Pease said.
In the State House, Pease said it is important to have political diversity, since there is currently a drastic Democratic majority. The House of Representatives currently has 131 Democrats and 25 Republicans.
He said having differing views strengthens policymaking.
“I continue to try and bring common sense to the State House and be that voice there to make amendments,” Pease said. “I don’t think that we need another Democrat that just follows along with what the speaker of the house tells them to do.”
Hoffman said he thinks that having a state representative who is in the political majority of the State House will help bring more advantages to Westfield and Southampton, such as access to local funding and support from Beacon Hill.
“Our district is a fairly evenly divided politically,” Hoffman said. “Rep. Pease is a Republican, and I didn’t want to leave him unchallenged. I really feel that the Republican Party has lost its mind, and we need state governance and lawmakers to be a balance to what’s going on [at the federal level].”
