The only contested Massachusetts House race in Berkshire County this fall is taking place in Pittsfield. Democratic state Rep. Tricia Farley-Bouvier is facing a challenge from City Councilor Chris Connell, who’s running as an independent. And it’s a rare challenge for the incumbent.

Farley-Bouvier has had a difficult election season. She narrowly — by fewer than 400 votes — made it through the Democratic primary. And now she’s up against a veteran city councilor, Chris Connell, who, at a recent debate, hammered away at Farley-Bouvier about her voting record at the State House.

“This year, Ms. Bouvier missed 107 roll call votes,” Connell said. “That gives her a voting record of 71.8 percent. That equates to a C-minus.”

The challenger then took issue with his opponent’s legislative history.

“In her five years in office, she’s passed only one piece of legislation, that she has sponsored,” Connell said. “Ironically, that was just last week, in an election year.”

Farley-Bouvier did not directly respond to those charges, instead mounting her own offensive. First, she objected to Connell’s intention to remain on the Pittsfield City Council should he also be elected state representative.

“It’s not possible to be a part time rep, unless you want to be the rep that shows up on Wednesday afternoon to push your button to vote,” Farley-Bouvier said. “It’s not possible to do that.”

Farley-Bouvier also called into question Connell’s status as an independent. She said that would hurt the district if he ends up going to Beacon Hill, since he’d be essentially working on his own.

“Without party leadership, you literally don’t have someone to assign you to an office,” Farley-Bouvier said. “Who is going to assign you to committees? How are you going to get funding? Not through your party leadership, because you don’t have it.”

But Connell argued that Farley-Bouvier has failed to bring back enough state funding for Pittsfield, even with that party support she says is so important. That’s just not true, Farley Bouvier said, pointing to projects she said have received money from Beacon Hill during her time in office, including the new Taconic High School.

This is the first time since winning a special election in 2011 that Farley Bouvier has had to defend her record. She’s run unopposed the last two election cycles.