Primary elections are only a few days away and three candidates will battle it out for Hampden’s 11th district state representative seat.
The district includes all of the Bay, McKnight, Old Hill and Upper Hill neighborhoods and portions of Forest Park, Pine Point and others.
There are three candidates running for state representative in the district: incumbent Bud Williams, public school teacher Johnnie McKnight and Nicole Coakley, who works as an administrator for Springfield’s C3 community-policing program.
On the issues
Coakley, who would be the first Black woman to serve as state representative in the district if she won, says there needs to be more workforce development for young people.
“There's really nothing for them to do. As you look, we barely have any after school programs for them to participate in,” Coakley said. “And with funding being cut, it's like, how do we help them? How do we make sure funding is coming into the city of Springfield and we're not being left out, and especially in the Hampden District…”
She said she would fight for money in the statehouse to create more after school programs and focus on affordable housing and protections for seniors.
“Rent control is something that we really need to focus on and make sure that we're helping these families, our seniors that are on set income that are trying to figure out ‘how do I pay my rent or pay my mortgage and still put food on my table?’ How do we help these individuals,” Coakley said.
McKnight said if elected, he would take large corporations in the city to task.
“One of the things that I hear constantly from residents is that, ‘hey, my tax bill is going through the roof.’ It's increasing year after year after year, you know, but we have these large nonprofits that aren't paying taxes,” McKnight said.
In McKnight’s campaign plan on his website, he says he wants to support a bill that would require nonprofits owning total property valued at or above $15 million to require them to make payments in lieu of taxes (PILOT) equal to 25% what they would have owed without the tax exemption.
However, McKnight does not point out any specific nonprofits.
“We need someone that's going to fight. We need someone that's going to think out of the box. And Bud Williams, he's not the person to do that. And we've seen his record over the course of ten years, and he has not been able to deliver for the district,” Williams said.
Bud Williams said he has brought in dollars to the district with the construction of the DeBerry Swan elementary school, renovating Park Adams playground and Blunt Park, and saved the post office in Pine Point from closing down.
On McKnight and Coakley’s criticism of his job, he says everybody has a right to run, but they need a plan to execute their vision.
“They need to have a plan. That's not a plan. That's just making statements. And where's the money going to come from,” Williams said.
Williams said all of his projects are funded by the city of Springfield and the state.
“I have a proven track record. I'm the workhorse, not a show horse,” Williams said. “So I know they're going to say they can do this, they can do that. I don't know how they're going to do it and what they're going to do and who they're going to call and get it done.”
Williams said many of his bills are currently being reviewed in the statehouse like a law to protect Black women and girls if they’ve gone missing and a law that would expunge minor possession of marijuana records from certain cases.
He said there’s still more that needs to be done.
With no candidate running in the Republican Primary, the winner on September 1st is virtually assured of claiming the 11th Hampden District seat come November.
