No incumbent in Springfield ward seats appears to be bailing and there have been few rumblings about challenges.
A noted exception is Ward 6, where rumors of a challenge to Councilor Victor Davila have circulated for months.
Springfield City Council President and Ward 5 Councilor Marcus Williams will resign both positions, thus triggering a new succession process. Just over a year ago, Williams oversaw the filling of now-State Senator Adam Gomez’s Council seat.
Springfield politicos are no strangers to the Rumbleseat, a Chicopee pub just across the city line. Some have even held fundraisers here. Earlier this month, Ward 1 Councilor Adam Gomez sat at an outdoor high-top seat counter, as he had many times before. Come January,
UPDATED 12:48AM: For clarity and grammar. Former Holyoke City Councilor Jossie Valentin will remain in the political arena for the time being. After finishing out her third term this past January and serving as Elizabeth Warren’s Massachusetts director during the presidential campaign, Valentin has joined
UPDATED 8:27PM: To include details from Sen. Welch’s end of year campaign finance report. The Democratic primary ballot in the Greater Springfield area is beginning to look a bit crowded. In addition to races for the Democratic nomination for the US House and Senate, a
Injustice had no greater foe in the City of Springfield than Michaelann Bewsee. After co-founding what would become the city’s feistiest community organization, Arise for Social Justice, Bewsee contributed to innumerable battles for equality and fairness. She embraced the city’s cultural mosaic without losing sight
SPRINGFIELD—For well over a decade, city councilors have grappled with how to structure the Police Department leadership. The Control Board’s abolition of the Police Commission in 2005 was among its most controversial moves. But it took several reform attempts and the Gregg Bigda imbroglio to
In Springfield 2018 may go down as a key year for the city. The Council, Springfield’s congressman, and even activism itself had a good year. But even if there was some small-d and large-D democratic developments, this year also ushered in some noteworthy signs on
SPRINGFIELD—It was not their first confrontation, but the first where they could really mix it up—and they did. In a debate Wednesday night, James Welch, the incumbent senator for the Hampden Senate District, and his opponent, former Springfield City Councilor Amaad Rivera jousted on healthcare,
SPRINGFIELD—History is not without a sense of irony. Two hundred plus years ago, George Washington sited the national armory here, spurring a weapons industry. Today, though much retrenched, gunmaker still employ hundreds. But Springfield-made firearms are not just mowing down Redcoats, Confederates, Imperial and Nazi