Activist Lachenmeyer to challenge Puppolo in Democratic primary

SPRINGFIELD — This fall, voters will have a choice of who will represent them in the 12th Hampden District seat in the state House of Representatives.

While Angelo Puppolo has held the seat, which represents Wilbraham and parts of East Longmeadow, Monson and Springfield, since 2007, he is facing a challenge in the Sept. 1 Democratic primary from Springfield resident Michael Lachenmeyer.

“My journey into politics was a long one,” Lachenmeyer said. When reflecting on his reasons for entering politics, he said that his grandparents grew up during the Great Depression of the 1930s. Through policies such as the New Deal and the GI Bill, they were able to build their way into the middle class. “Our government has gotten away from that kind of policy of upward mobility,” he said.

Lachenmeyer became involved in activism while in college at Loyola University Chicago. He founded a chapter of the Indivisible Movement, a grassroots organizing group, and worked with the Sunrise Movement, a climate justice organization. He returned to Western Massachusetts after completing a master’s degree at the University of Chicago.

A background in activism has given Lachenmeyer a particular perspective on the relationship between organizers and politicians. He said, “There are definitely things activists can accomplish more than politicians but there are ways politicians can accomplish more. Ideally, I think the two work together. It’s the job of activists to put pressure on legislators but legislators can put pressure on their colleagues.”

When Donald Trump was reelected as president in 2024, Lachenmeyer decided to become more politically involved. In March 2025, Lachenmeyer joined Mass-Care — Massachusetts Campaign for Single Payer Health Care — on a visit to Beacon Hill to lobby Puppolo on behalf of the organization’s cause. Lachenmeyer said Puppolo shared with them that he supported the idea but was unwilling to do so publicly. Lachenmeyer was deeply disappointed in his representative.

Lachenmeyer learned more about Puppolo’s record in the House and found information that further bothered him. He said Puppolo receives an annual $20,000 stipend to chair the House Committee on Intergovernmental Affairs, but that the committee has had no meetings or bills before it. According to malegislature.gov, however, the committee has met every two months since the beginning of the legislative cycle and is scheduled to meet again on May 29. There are no bills currently before the committee.

The candidate questions some of the decisions Puppolo had made during his tenure in the House. In 2016, Puppolo was one of 12 Democrats who voted against a bill to allow transgender people to use the bathroom that aligns with their gender identity. Lachenmeyer also took issue with a statement Puppolo made to Reminder Publishing in January 2025, when he described the “migrant issue” is “the elephant in the room.”

Platform

Lachenmeyer’s platform is ambitious. He said, “I’m big on affordability and anti-corruption.”

Currently, most Massachusetts residents pay a flat state income tax of 5%. Lachenmeyer is in favor of adopting tax brackets that are tied to income, similar to the model used by the federal government. “A graduated income tax would raise a lot of money from people in the eastern part of the state and benefit people in Western Massachusetts,” he said. The communities surrounding Interstate 495 in eastern Massachusetts tend to have higher per capita incomes than those in Western Massachusetts.

Meanwhile, he said, a single-payer health care system would “raise all boats.” Between 2010 and 2019, 19 states had single-payer health care bills going through their legislatures. The results have been a mixed bag. Vermont passed universal health care in 2011, but the state shelved the program in 2014 because of financing issues. In 2022, Oregon passed a constitutional amendment guaranteeing universal healthcare and is designing a single-payer model, which could be enacted as soon as fall 2027. Colorado is currently conducting a feasibility study on single-payer health care in the state. Federally, Vermont U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders filed the Medicare for All Act in 2025. The legislation was referred to the Senate Committee on Finance.

“I want to see high speed rail,” Lachenmeyer said, adding a 45-minute commute to Boston would be a vehcile for demographic and economic growth. While the Compass Rail passenger rail plan the state has been pursuing does not include a high-speed rail option, Lachenmeyer said it may be possible as a future addition, although he opined that the federal government, which provides much of the railroad funding, is not interested.

Lachenmeyer also wants to see changes to the way Chapter 70 school aid is calculated. “Funding education primarily through property taxes bakes in inequities,” he said, adding that the formula should incorporate inflation. While he praised the Fair Share Amendment, which passed in 2022 and instituted a 4% surcharge on personal income over $1 million, he disagreed with how the revenue has been spent. He acknowledged the benefits of free community college and free buses but said the state should channel as much of the revenue as possible into public K-12 education.

Taking a position on whether the state auditor should be able to audit the Legislature, a contentious issue making its way through the state’s Supreme Judicial Court, the candidate said, “I think that’s very important for people’s trust in the government.” Lachenmeyer would also institute 10-year term limits for state legislators and an eight-year limit for the speaker of the House, ban legislators from trading stocks while in office and ban legislators from working as lobbyists for five years after leaving office to limit what he described as a “revolving door” of influence.

Lachenmeyer admits that his goals are more progressive than those of many other legislators, but he is not deterred. “The job of a politician is to try to move the window,” he said. “The compromise becomes partway between how things are and what we want to see.” Over time, the status quo shifts. An example, he pointed to U.S. Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley and Rashida Tlaib — who were given the collective nickname, “The Squad” when elected in 2018. The progressive representatives may not have been able to get all their priorities passed, but those issues have received greater attention through their presence in the House of Representatives.

“Change comes slowly,” Lachenmeyer said. “But it’s worth sticking with it to eventually reach our goals.”