Hampden District Attorney Mark Mastroianni says he accepts that there’s a long process he must endure before becoming a federal judge. That’s after a Senate committee okayed his nomination to the U.S. District Court Thursday.

It’s been more than five months since the president nominated Mastroianni to the bench, which is not all that long in U.S. Senate-time.

“I’m not really frustrated, because I understood going into this how long the process…takes,” Mastroianni said Friday.

The Judiciary Committee’s approval this week is a big step in that, but Mastroianni still needs approval from the full Senate. And if he’s concerned it could get derailed by political wrangling, he isn’t explicitly saying so.

“Well, my concerns about the process and where it’s going to go, I’d rather not share with you publicly right now,” he said. “But it is a process and I accept the fact that it’s  a long process.”

In the mean time, he sits and waits.

“That’s all I can do and so I become used to it at this point,” Mastroianni said. “But I love my job…as district attorney. And so, if this doesn’t go through, I’m very happy to continue my job as district attorney.”

But if confirmed, Mastroianni would help ease the workload at Springfield’s federal court, much of which now falls on longtime Judge Michael Ponsor. Ponsor is technically on “senior status,” which allows him to work somewhat lighter hours.

New England Public Radio’s Susan Kaplan contributed to this report.