With less than two weeks before the general election on Nov. 5, Reminder Publishing reached out to the two candidates for the state Senate seat covering Berkshire County and the westernmost towns of Hampden, Hampshire and Franklin counties, Democratic incumbent state Sen. Paul Mark and GOP challenger David Rosa, to hear how their strategy for the final push to before the polls open.
“Every time I have run for re-election, during my time in the House and the Senate, I’ve run a pretty serious campaign, regardless of whether I have someone running against me or not,” said Mark, 48, who was first sent to Beacon Hill when the 2nd Berkshire District elected him as its state representative in 2010. He was re-elected five times and elected to the Senate in 2022.
Rosa, 70, said his final push is to connect with “active voters” using digital advertising and phone banks to convince Democrats, who make up the majority of the registered voters in the district, to cross party lines.
He is also targeting “active and inactive Republicans” to support him.
“We’re working with media to get the message out,” Rosa said.
The resident of Dighton — a southeastern Massachusetts town that is not part of the district — is hoping to appeal to voters upset with how Gov. Maura Healey handled housing people who need emergency shelter, many of whom are immigrants.
Both candidates said they have been generating enthusiasm for the campaigns by knocking on doors and doing standouts, which Rosa has been doing primarily in Pittsfield, he said.
Mark added that he has a regional campaign office and sent out mailings throughout the district, the state’s largest, with 57 cities and towns that stretch from Southwick, Westhampton and Whately all the way west to the New York state line.
“I remember a friend and constituent pretty involved in statewide politics from the town of Northfield said to me once, ‘I’ve never seen a state rep. put out 2,000 pieces of literature at the door before when they don’t even have an opponent,’” Mark said.
Rosa said part of his campaigning has been visiting some of the towns, cities and communities in the Hilltowns.
“I’ve been steady and consistent to get across the district and visit with people as best I could,” Rosa said.
Mark said that as the incumbent, he really only runs against himself.
“I take outreach to every community in this gigantic district pretty seriously, during election and non-elections years equally,” he said, adding the district is bigger than the state of Rhode Island and bigger than 30 countries.
“… So it takes a lot of work to stay in touch with as many people throughout the district as possible,” he said.
When Rosa was asked if the campaigning so far has been fair, he steered away from answering that directly, but took a shot at Mark.
“From his actions, I wonder if he’s even interested in the job,” Rosa said.
Mark also steered away from answering if the campaigning so far had been fair, and made an appeal to the voters in the district.
“I am grateful to the people of the district for the opportunity to be our voice in the Senate and I would be honored to once again have your vote,” Mark said.
Rosa acknowledged that his campaign has been an uphill climb, and that the GOP gave up on the district years ago, btu said he’s undeterred.
“I’m not willing to give up yet,” he said.
Rosa is a retired Defense Department employee, and a veteran of both the U.S. Air Force and the Massachusetts Army National Guard, retiring at the rank of captain. He has been married to his wife, Zita, for 48 years, is a former Dighton Parks and Recreation commissioner and was a longtime member on the board of the Taunton River Watershed Alliance.
Mark is former lineman for Bell Atlantic and Verizon, and a practicing attorney with law degrees from Suffolk University and Northeastern University.
Hampden and Hampshire county towns in the district are Blandford, Chester, Chesterfield, Cummington, Granville, Goshen, Huntington, Middlefield, Plainfield, Southwick, Tolland, Westhampton, Whately, Williamsburg and Worthington.
