Nadia Milleron holds documentaion of the needed signatures to appear on the ballot for the Massachusetts District 1 seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Reminder Publishing submitted photo
Attorney, activist, mother — Nadia Milleron has many titles, but is hoping to add a new one in November: U.S. representative.
In March, Milleron launched a bid for the Massachusetts District 1 seat, a position Richard Neal has been in for 36 years. As of late June, she received the needed number of signatures to appear on the ballot. District 1 encompasses the entirety of Berkshire and Hampden counties and serves Charlemont, Hawley, Monroe, Rowe in Franklin County, a handful of towns in southern Hampshire County and the southwesternmost towns in Worcester County.
Milleron has lived in southwestern Massachusetts for the past 25 years, practicing law on and off while operating a farm. The candidate touted her experience as an attorney working with coalitions of people to affect change. “In Congress, you have to work with everyone, go into every office and say, ‘This is how this is affecting you.’”
Milleron first became politically active after the 2019 death of her daughter while on a faulty Boeing 737 Max airplane. She testified to Congress that her daughter died due to “corruption.”
“I was apolitical,” she said. “I thought politics was a dirty business, but I didn’t know it could lead to safety issues.”
After her daughter died and she sought help from legislators, she said Neal was not there for her, and she felt that “he voted against people’s interests.” She said he was the only member of the Massachusetts delegation to vote against the Lower Costs, More Transparency Act, which affected pharmaceutical pricing. She also said that people in Lee are upset because waste from the Housatonic River is being dumped in their town and Neal has not stepped in.
“He has a long history of opposing pensions,” she continued, adding that she believes he works in the interests of the financial industry. She said he also blocked an increase to Social Security benefits. “I think Richard Neal is serving the people who pay his bills,” she said.
In contrast to Milleron’s stance, Neal has voted for several pieces of legislation that support pensions, such as Butch Lewis Emergency Pension Plan Relief Act of 2021, Emergency Pension Plan Relief Act of 2021 and 2022’s SECURE Act.
Milleron said she has raised $60,000 from individual donors, while only $28,000 of Neal’s more than $3 million war chest came from individuals. According to opensecrets.org, a nonpartisan nonprofit organization that explores political fundraising, Neal’s top donor in the 2023-24 campaign cycle was Fidelity Investments, donating $21,850. Insurance companies were the most prolific donors of any industry, giving $217,510 in that same period. Neal received $1.23 million from his leadership PAC and $366,775 from large individual contributions.
Despite working with significantly fewer resources, Milleron said, “I am going to run a successful campaign.” She borrowed $57,000 for television ads, some of which illustrate issues around shrinkflation and the cost of goods. “I’m trying to focus on these bottom-line issues,” she said. Considering her campaign, she said that a loss would still be a victory because she would serve as “a template for how this congressional office could be run.”
Neal has been in the House of Representatives since 1988 and is the ranking Democrat on the House Ways and Means Committee, one of the most powerful committees in Congress. While some would argue that he should remain in office because his position can help Massachusetts, Milleron said he has not delivered from that seat. She specifically noted that he did not repeal Trump-era tax cuts while he was chair of the committee.
To Milleron, longevity in the House is a weakness, rather than a strength. She opined that Neal is not “as in touch” with constituents as he used to be. She said she believes in term limits and would place a self-imposed limit of three terms, lasting six years.
Milleron also said she has her own source of influence. As a U.S. representative unaffiliated with any party, she said the closely split House of Representatives would vie for her vote. “I could say, ‘I’m not going to vote for this [legislation] unless you consider this factor,’” she said as a hypothetical example.
Some of Milleron’s priorities in the House would be to bring manufacturing jobs back to the United States. She said trade agreements supported by her opponent had led to the loss of “thousands” of industry jobs. Her call for renewed manufacturing extends to medicine. “We need drugs produced here,” she said, citing her concerns over generic pharmaceuticals with “adulterated ingredients” made in India and China.
Continuing on the topic of health care, Milleron said, “We don’t have enough doctors in our district.” She pointed out it can take months to get a doctor’s appointment. She wants to offer incentives, including forgiving medical school loans, to encourage doctors to relocate to the state.
The niece of political activist and six-time presidential candidate Ralph Nader, Milleron states on her website, nadiaforcongress.com, that she will “continue and strengthen” Nader’s environmental record.
Finally, Milleron said she wants to add her voice to Washington’s ongoing efforts to combat price gouging, in which the cost of essential items has “tripled.”
While she doubted Neal would attend a one-on-one campaign event with her, Milleron said she is willing to face off with him in a debate. However, she said she would prefer a town-hall style event with both candidates addressing questions from voters.
Milleron assured that she is pursuing a seat in the House for the right reasons. She said, “I’m not [running] to promote my career. I’m doing it to make it better for people.”
Reminder Publishing reached out to Neal’s office but did not receive a response in time for publication.
