With the Massachusetts primary election wrapped up, candidates for state representative in the southern Berkshires are looking ahead to November. Smitty Pignatelli, who has represented the Berkshire 3rd district since 2003, is stepping down.
Although nearly two thirds of the state's voters are registered as "unenrolled" in any political party, only one member of the Massachusetts House identifies as independent — state Rep. Susannah Whipps, a former Republican.
But that's not stopping Marybeth Mitts, an independent who serves on the Lenox Select Board.
"I feel like I have a chance because I will be serving all of the people in my district. There are actually 61% of the people in Berkshire County [who] are registered as unenrolled," Mitts said. "So I think I've got a shot."
Her opponent, Leigh Davis, vice-chair of the Great Barrington Selectboard, said she got congratulatory calls from top state Democrats on primary night, including Gov. Maura Healy and U.S. Sen. Ed Markey.
But Davis said the race isn't over.
"I am not ramping down. No way, no way, no way," Davis said. "We have two months of hard work and I am focused, I'm dug in and I'm ready to do the work."
Both candidates said if they make it to the Statehouse, boosting affordable housing and economic development in the Berkshires are top priorities.
Davis said she wants lawmakers in Boston to understand the Berkshires isn't just for tourists.
"If more investment is made in our schools, in our infrastructure, in our health care, this can be really a place that can grow and contribute to the economy," Davis said.
Mitts said changes to part of the state's building code, called the stretch code, could help increase housing.
"I could hopefully move the needle on the stretch code — hopefully get legislation passed that maybe wouldn't make the stretch code so onerous for folks that are building new housing and who are rehabilitating housing to be up to code," she said.
Mitts is a member of the Lenox Affordable Housing Trust. Davis works for Construct, an affordable housing nonprofit in Great Barrington.
