Agawam City Councilor Tom Hendrickson looks to unseat state Rep. Nick Boldyga for the 3rd Hampden District seat.
Reminder Publishing file photo
AGAWAM — When Agawam City Councilor Tom Hendrickson announced on Jan. 23 he would challenge incumbent state Rep. Nicholas Boldyga to represent the 3rd Hampden District, it was for several reasons, including the fact that Boldyga is not responsive to his constituents.
“Lack of response from him has been a major issue,” Hendrickson said on Jan. 23. “And that is coming from his constituents.”
The rising cost of health care and Boldyga’s lack of action to reduce the insurance burden on families are other reasons.
Hendrickson, a Democrat, said that in the non-binding referendum held in November 2024 that asked residents if they would support single-payer health care, 51.8% of the voters in the 3rd Hampden District supported it.
Boldyga didn’t, and Hendrickson, 27, said the incumbent “maligned” the proposal.
Before the referendum, Boldyga said, in a statement, the single-payer system would crush market-driven innovations, and that it was a “failed socialist policy being promoted by ultra progressives, self-avowed socialists and other far-left extremists.”
Hendrickson called single-payer a “common-sense approach” that reins in the skyrocketing cost of health care, adding that every industrialized nation in the world uses a single-payer system.
“I would work to support it,” Hendrickson said.
He also believes that affordability is a key issue in the upcoming election.
“Too often, billionaires and big corporations are able to rig the economy in their favor, keeping wages down and costs high for everyday people. I’m fighting for change,” he said in a statement announcing his candidacy.
He also has a connection to Southwick. His father, David, recently retired after 30 years of teaching AP calculus at Southwick Regional School, and his mother, Laura, is a physical education teacher at Powder Mill School.
Joining the Agawam City Council in 2022, Hendrickson worked to bring Community Choice Energy Aggregation to Agawam. He also supports improving government transparency and the new Agawam High School project.
“I’m running because we deserve an economy and a state government that work for all of us … and fighting to bring real working-class representation to our state Legislature, to challenge corporate special interests, to create a fair economy for working-class families and to restore transparency and democratic values to our state government,” he said.
His policy platform ensures that the wealthy pay their fair share in taxes, so that communities can properly fund things like education and infrastructure, reining in energy prices and holding utility companies accountable.
“And I’ll always stand with organized labor in the fight for fair wages, benefits and working conditions,” he said in the statement.
Hendrickson graduated from Agawam High School in 2017, earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from Providence College in 2021, and a master’s degree in public policy from the Univesity of Massachusetts Amherst School of Public Policy in 2022.
He has also worked on several political campaigns over the past seven years, including campaigns for state Sens. Adam Gomez and Jake Oliveira, and state Rep. Leigh Davis.
For more information, visit TomHendrickson.org, email THendrickson1313@gmail.com, or call or text 413-654-6958.
