In western Massachusetts, there are very few contested state legislative races on the ballot in November. And many of those lack serious competition.
That's not the case in the 4th Hampden House District, where Republican incumbent Kelly Pease faces a stiff challenge from his Democratic rival, Bridget Matthews-Kane.
The district includes almost all of Westfield, and the entire town of Southampton.
Pease, who is seeking a third term, is one of about two dozen Republicans in the House, out of 160 total members. And he's one of just a few from the GOP hailing from western Mass.
"I'd like to continue to serve," Pease said. "And I do like the process, even though it can get frustrating sometimes. Especially [with] me being a conservative down in Boston, it can be a little tough."
Matthews-Kane was elected to the Westfield City Council in 2019. She said being part of the Democratic supermajority on Beacon Hill, if elected, would allow her to be more productive than Pease.
"It's going to be easy to work with people from the same party and I know generally it will make it easier for me and I think it will allow me to get more things accomplished in the Legislature," she said.
That is one of Matthews-Kane's main campaign talking points — that Pease hasn't done enough during his time in office. She said he hasn't filed enough legislation or brought enough money back home.
But Pease said he's signed on to plenty of legislation as a co-sponsor, and that hundreds of thousands of dollars in funding has been hung up in a stalled economic development bill.
The candidates generally agree on the need to address one key issue. They both say more needs to be done to bolster the state's housing stock.
Legislation aiming to help do just that was passed earlier this year. Matthews-Kane said she would have supported it if she was in the Legislature.
"This bill was going to do things like help veterans and first-time home buyers afford starter homes," Matthews-Kane said. "And Representative Pease voted against it."
The bill emerged late during the final formal sessions for the House and Senate. In explaining his vote, Pease called it "a good bill," but said he had some concerns about the legislation and the process.
"It was just kind of thrown at us at nine in the morning after we've been there for 20 hours and with a very shortened time to review before the vote came up," Pease said. "It just was something I wasn't going to vote for at that particular time, given the circumstances."
As for fundraising, this is an unusual situation where the incumbent is at a disadvantage. Pease has been out-raised this cycle by nearly $13,000, with Matthews-Kane having $17,000 more in her campaign account than her opponent as of the end of September.
"That's something you have to do if you want to run for office. You have to fundraise," Matthews-Kane said. "I took it very seriously. I did 'call time' every day. I reached out to people. I heard a lot of nos, but I heard a lot of yeses."
Asked about his fundraising gap, Pease did not seem concerned.
"I have enough money, I think, to do what I want to do to get my message out there," Pease said. "I'm very proactive. Now, in the end, I don't know what she'll have left, because I probably won't have anything."
This seat, which used to represent solely Westfield until redistricting a few years ago, has typically been in Republican hands over the years. An exception is when Democrat John Velis, who is now a state senator, held the seat from 2014-2020.
The presence of a presidential race on the ballot will push turnout much higher for this legislative race than it would be for a midterm election.
With that, another factor could be if voters choose to vote a straight ticket for their party of choice. In 2016, former President Donald Trump narrowly carried Westfield, but lost the city in 2020 by a slim margin.
In Southampton, the Democratic candidates won both times.
