With only days remaining until Thursday’s primary elections in Massachusetts, new campaign finance records are shedding some light on some western Mass. races for seats on Beacon Hill.
In the 11th Hampden House District in Springfield, Democrat Ben Swan, Jr,. has raised more than $20,000. That’s four times as much as opponent Bud Williams. Williams, though, still has a war chest of $34,000, much of which is left over from previous City Council campaigns.
In the 3rd Hampshire House District, there are six Democrats, with Solomon Goldstein-Rose leading the way in contributions with almost $25,000. That’s double the amount of the next closest candidate Sarah LaCour. The other four Democrats combined raised about as much as Goldstein-Rose did on his own.
In the 3rd Berkshire Democratic House race in Pittsfield, incumbent Tricia Farley-Bouvier raised more than $29,000, $11,000 more than challenger Michael Bloomberg. Bloomberg did pick up nine maximum donations of $1,000 each, including one from his cousin, the former mayor of New York.
In the region’s sole contested primary for a state Senate seat, Democrats in a Berkshire County-based district have made campaign donations a hot topic.
According to data from the state, Adam Hinds raised nearly $75,000 in the latest reporting period, almost four times a much as his closest opponent in the money race, Andrea Harrington. Hinds has drawn fire from Harrington for accepting donations from employees of energy and fossil fuel companies. Hinds tells the Greenfield Recorder he gave back one of the donations, and wasn’t aware of the others.