State Rep. Patricia Duffy campaigns on Sept. 1, encouraging residents to vote for her in the Democratic primary race.
Reminder Publishing submitted photo
State Rep. Patricia Duffy defeated challenger José R. Candelario Gonzalez in the 5th Hampden District, winning 78.8% of the vote.
Unofficial results showed Duffy gathered 7,810 votes to Gonzalez’s 2,042 in Holyoke. In Chicopee, Duffy earned 550 votes to Gonzalez’s 208 votes.
In an interview with Reminder Publishing after the win, Duffy thanked voters for choosing her for a fourth term in 5th Hampden District, which includes Holyoke and one ward in Chicopee.
“It was an honor to be entrusted again with the people in this district,” she stated. “I love this community so much. I feel like it’s sort of saying, ‘yeah, you’re doing what we want you to do, and we share your vision for what’s coming up,’ so I really feel very proud, very humbled, very gratified.”
Duffy has served the 5th Hampden District in the state’s House of Representatives as a Democrat since January 2021. She has also served on the Holyoke Redevelopment Authority for 10 years and was the only staffer for state Rep. Aaron Vega before being elected to her current position.
Looking ahead to her upcoming term, Duffy said she will continue building on her work from previous years in the role. She said her immediate priorities include improving access to oral health care, ensuring the Chapter 70 funding formula is examined, and making sure Holyoke and Chicopee are properly represented.
Duffy said that the school funding formula will be reexamined for the first time since 2018.
“That revision in 2018 was looking to improve funding for cities like Holyoke and Chicopee and other gateway cities, but we’ve also heard that there are other schools and areas and municipalities around here that did not do as well, and I really want to be at the table for them, both to lift up other districts, but also to make sure that the equity that we achieved in the last revision stays there for Holyoke,” she explained.
Duffy also said legislation in the Conference Committee looks at improving access to primary care and incentivizing folks to go into primary care.
“Especially out here in Western Massachusetts, we need to improve the numbers. A lot of medical students that go into medical school, they want to be primary care physicians, but they can’t afford it. They find themselves going into specialties, so there’s a lot of great ways that we’re working on for incentivizing folks to go into primary.”
She said around 200 people in the Legislature are taking the lead in different areas. Duffy said she has been looking at ways to incentivize people to go into oral healthcare.
“We have the improve the coverage that MassHealth provides and that’s up to us in the Legislature, and we got to incentivize and broaden that field so that we’ve got better coverage out here,” she added.
She said she will also advocate for the release of the $7.5 million bond authorization she secured for Combined Sewer Overflow mitigation to continue cleanup of the Connecticut River.
Duffy also talked about turnout and continuing her work with colleagues in the state.
“I’m looking forward to continuing to work with them and supporting them, and it looks like we’ve got a federal government that will be more aligned with the priorities that we’ve got here in Massachusetts, so it’s gonna be a great session,” Duffy said.
She said the way the state and much of the country voted resonates with what she heard from people while she was out in the community campaigning.
“Affordability is a huge issue for people, and now I feel like we have stronger federal partners to help us work on that,” Duffy said. “People talked about that they were concerned about the direction that the federal government seemed to be going in; it seems like there was a rebuke of that last night, and they would always say how grateful we all are that we live in Massachusetts. I just really feel like our state government does align more with what people are looking for.”
Duffy also congratulated Gonzalez on running a classy campaign.
“He cares about this community. We were not negative with each other, and that’s the way I’ve always run, and it seems like the people of this district appreciate that,” Duffy said. “I congratulate him for his message; he cares about this community, and it takes guts to put yourself on the ballot, so I appreciate that.”
Reminder Publishing reached out to Gonzalez for comment, but he did not respond before press time.
