State Rep. Bud Williams, left, stands with his chief of staff, Malo Brown, who was running for state Senate, on election night.
Reminder Publishing photo by Tyler Garnet
SPRINGFIELD — It was a victory for incumbent state Rep. Bud Williams, but not necessarily a resounding one.
With no Republican challengers on the November ballot, the Springfield Democrat secured another two years representing the 11th Hampden District in the state’s House of Representatives in the Sept. 3 state primary election, but not without a strong push from fellow Democrat Johnnie McKnight, who gave Williams his closes race since he was elected to the office in 2016.
“I feel good. The people have spoken. They have believed in what I stand for, believe in what I do so we continue on. I am very excited to go back to Beacon Hill and continue the work that we do, that I do on a daily basis,” Williams said.
Williams defeated McKnight by less than 250 votes, with 1,748 (53.6%) to McKnight’s 1,523 (46.1%). While the performance was comparable to the level of support Williams received in his last contested election in 2022 when he received 1,797 votes, the margin of victory was much narrower. McKnight outperformed Williams’ 2022 opponent, Jynai McDonald, by more than 500 votes.
Williams was unopposed in 2018 and 2020.
Although the race was close, that did not seem to affect Williams as he stated, “a win is a win.”
He explained, “At the end of the day, elections are about elections and the results are about the next generation and this is about the next generation. Whether you win by one vote or 10,000 votes, a win is and win and that’s how I look at it, I’m an athlete. So, the people have spoken, they’ve looked at the candidates, I’m victorious and we look forward to serving for the next two years.”
The strength of the performance appeared to be no consolation for McKnight.
He briefly spoke to a small group of supporters gathered at Sophia’s Bar and Pizzeria then declined to speak to Reminder Publishing, the only news outlet on hand when results were announced, referring questions to his campaign manager Tom Hendrickson.
Hendrickson said the results indicated an “interest and energy behind getting a new voice” and cited Williams’ advantage in campaign fundraising as a major factor in the incumbent’s victory. He said McKnights’ campaign was effectively spearheaded by volunteers canvassing and door-knocking.
Hendrickson added Williams performed well in Ward 4, an area represented in the City Council by Williams’ chief of staff, Malo Brown — who ran unsuccesfully for a state Senate seat against Adam Gomez in the same primary — and while McKnight performed well in other wards such as his home ward of Ward 7, the campaign didn’t make up enough ground in expected areas of weakness.
During his campaign, Williams said he was hearing a lot of similar priorities from voters.
Williams said, “Well public safety obviously, education, housing and health care and they want us to pass that economic bill that the House and Senate still continues to go back and forth on and hopefully that will materialize in the next few months.”
When it comes to his own personal priorities for the rest of this term and his next term, Williams said, “One of the top priorities is making sure that the economic bond bill is done. There’s a lot of things in there that’s going to benefit Western Massachusetts and it’s very important. For example, there’s money for the new Baystate Facility over on the campus of MassMutual. That’s important and the climate control so that’s another one and also the pharmaceutical bill in terms of making prescription drugs more affordable to the residents of the city.”
When asked about words for his opponent, Williams said, “anyone can run if they want.”
He added, “Democracy is that each and every citizen in the commonwealth, the city of Springfield, has the right to run. You run, at the end of day the citizens make a decision, and that decision has been made, they have sent me back to Beacon Hill. All campaigns are good because it creates the conversation, it creates the debate, and you get a chance to display your record.”
