GREATER SPRINGFIELD – As the nation waited into the early morning hours for the final results in a brutal presidential campaign, State Sen. Donald Humason (R-Westfield) assured himself a restful night after defeating Southampton Democrat J.D. Parker-O'Grady for the 2nd Hampden-Hampshire District seat.

This will be Humason’s second full term. In his first run, Humason beat Holyoke City Councilor David Bartley. The seat was left vacant after long-serving Republican Michael Knapik resigned.

Humason's second bid showcased a spirited race against Holyoke Police Officer Patrick Leahy. The senator’s hometown of Westfield remains a foundation for future runs.

He represents a vast senate district that includes Agawam, Holyoke, Easthampton, Granville, Montgomery, Russell, Southampton, Southwick, Tolland, Westfield and several wards in Chicopee.

Humason said he would continue to balance the needs of his diverse district, which includes rural and bedroom communities and urban centers like Holyoke and Chicopee.

He praised the efforts of Bennett Walsh, the newly appointed superintendent of the Holyoke Soldiers Home.

He said Walsh understands not only the state side of veteran's care but the complexity of the federal system. Prior to his appointment, Walsh retired as a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Marine Corps. Humason said he would continue to defend the rights of gun owners in the district and across Massachusetts. In July, Humason filed a billed countering efforts by Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey to rein in ownership of assault-style weapons.

In other matters, Humason said the state must continue to tackle the ongoing opioid crisis gripping the Commonwealth and the nation. The effort has attracted broad, bipartisan support, including Gov. Charlie Baker increased funding for treatment, education and additional beds in rehab facilities.

Meanwhile, State Rep. John Velis (D-Westfield) faced no challenger this year. Velis is an officer in the U.S. Army Reserves. He served a tour in Afghanistan.

Velis has made veterans affairs a cornerstone of his time in the State House, serving on the Joint Committee on Veterans and Federal Affairs. An attorney, Velis is on the Joint Judiciary Committee.

State Rep. Aaron Vega (D-Holyoke) also enjoyed an election year free of an opponent. In a statement, he said, “I'm excited to build on the work I have already done as the representative from Holyoke. I look forward to working with my colleagues in the House to address issues like health care access, the cost of higher education and work force development.”

He added, “I am thankful to the people of Holyoke for their support, their passion and their ideas to make our city and our Commonwealth the best it can be.”

Lesser defeats Harrington

State Sen. Eric Lesser (D-Longmeadow) will serve his second term in office representing the 1st Hampden & Hampshire District after defeating Republican challenger James “Chip” Harrington 42,875 to 33,595.

Cheers and applause rang out from more than a hundred people at Center Square Grill in East Longmeadow as Lesser took the podium and announced that Harrington had called him over the phone to congratulate him on his victory. Minutes prior, campaign staff declared that Lesser had won the majority of votes in the communities of Longmeadow, Springfield, East Longmeadow, and Chicopee.

The 1st Hampden & Hampshire District is also composed of the towns of Wilbraham, Belchertown, Ludlow and Granby.

Lesser said he would continue to focus on issues that were important to his campaign during his first two years in office such as decreasing the cost of Narcan across the state, combating the opioid crisis, and pushing for research into high-speed real to better connect Western Massachusetts with the eastern half of the state.

“We know that trust is built in conversations, one at a time, in our communities, on our blocks, with our neighbors, by our friends, and by delivering real results and talking about those results, and bringing those results back to home to our community,” Lesser told the crowd. “Whether it’s the continued progress that we have already made and will continue to make on high-speed rail; whether it’s continuing the fight against substance abuse; continuing to reduce the cost of Narcan; bringing more treatment beds to Western Massachusetts; reorienting our criminal justice system towards treatment and prevention – those are the type of things we’re going to work on.”

He added he would also advocate and be part of efforts to “close the skills gap” by improving training in manufacturing and building middle class jobs in the region.

“We’re also going to fight for some other things that are big and left undone – continuing equal pay for equal work, universal Pre-K and universal kindergarten for our kids, paid family leave, and continuing the fight for fairness and equality and access to opportunities for everyone in our communities and for everyone in Western Massachusetts,” Lesser said.

He continued, “Because let’s be honest; we know what we face, which is we do sit in a state that has an overall pretty good economy where things are going well and jobs are being created and there is growth and there is opportunity, but we know that that growth and opportunity is not equally shared. We don’t feel it the same way in Western Massachusetts that folks in other places might and my mission in the senate … is to make sure that a kid growing up in Springfield or East Longmeadow or Chicopee or Belchertown or in Wilbraham or in Ludlow has the same opportunity as a kid growing up anywhere else in our Commonwealth and our country.”

When asked by Reminder Publications about what he’d say to opponents of high-speed rail in Massachusetts, Lesser replied, “Let’s study it and find it. My bill is a bill to study the issue and get us the answers we need and I think that if the idea is a sound one we owe it to future generations, we owe it to our kids and our grandkids to make sure that we crossed every t and dotted every i. I think that we owe it to our communities to study it and find out what the results would be.”

Lesser said he believes the United States is behind major developed countries in regards to utilizing high-speed rail.

“Every single modern country in the world has an infrastructure system and a rail network better than ours,” he explained. “I think it’s telling when both candidates for president repeatedly talk about the need for infrastructure [and] the need for better rail – then I think you know we’re onto an issue that has traction.”

Pointing to his opponent’s expansive campaign funding sources, Harrington, who joined supporters at Leone’s Restaurant in Springfield, said he embraced his underdog status in the race “from the get-go,” and said he was proud of his campaign team’s grassroots effort.

"[Lesser] has a tremendous amount of money from outside the district and all around, so we knew that was going to be a huge hurdle to get over,” he said. “We put together a really good grassroots campaign. We knocked on 30,000 doors and made 110,000 phone calls. We went with that approach because that’s all we have, frankly. We did a normal amount of fundraising for a race like this, but we were running up against a guy whose warchest is so big, it can’t be filled.”

Harrington added while some issues he heard while campaigning varied on where in the district he was, there were some unifying concerns.

“If I’m in Springfield, there’s a lot about public safety and how that’s impacting job creation. When you go to Belchertown, some of the issues are different, like the state school property issue they are trying to  work out with the state,” he said. “One common theme throughout the entire district is drug addiction and the problems everyone is experiencing with opioids and heroin. Everybody is feeling that.”

Cocchi wins sheriff’s race

At the Lusitano Club in Ludlow, candidate for Hampden County sheriff Nick Cocchi declared victory approximately an hour after polls closed, completing a decisive sweep on his way to becoming retiring Sheriff Michael Ashe’s successor.

Cocchi, the assistant superintendent for the Hampden County Sheriff’s Department, captured 68 percent of the vote to upend Republican John Comerford and Independent James Gill, assistant deputy superintendent with the Sheriff’s Department.

Cocchi earned the Democratic nomination for the seat after a dominating Primary Election victory over Springfield City Councilor Thomas Ashe, Former Springfield Mayor and Governor’s Councilor Michael Albano. John Griffin also ran on the Democratic ticket, but withdrew from the race and threw his support behind Thomas Ashe.

“I think I learned a lot in the primary. I’ve been going to school for 2 1/2 years here. I’ve never run for public office, so every month, every election over the past 2 1/2 years, I kept learning about what has to be done,” Cocchi said. I surrounded myself with a great campaign team, some great consultants and they educated me what to do and all I had to do was go out there an execute.”

After a career that saw him develop into Sheriff Ashe’s right-hand man, Cocchi said the voter’s support for his next step into the role of sheriff was a message that they liked the direction the department was going. He added he intended to apply many of the lessons he learned during his time with Sheriff Ashe.

“You have a model and one of the best at what he does. I had the fortunate ability to sit in the same locker room and be on the same team as an all-star. How could I not gather and grab those attributes that made him so successful?” Cocchi said. “I think I’ve done that and I’m also my own man. I’m a college-educated guy with a master’s degree and I’ve been in the business for 23 years. I want to take all of those things and put them together moving forward and I just know we’re going to have a lot of momentum going forward for a new era of the Hampden County Sheriff’s Department.”

Boldyga tops Sandlin

Nicholas Boldyga (R-Southwick) defeated challenger Rosemary Sandlin to retain his seat as state representative for the 3rd Hampden District, which includes Agawam, Southwick, Granville and Russell.

Boldyga did not immediately respond to request for comment, however, on Twitter he posted, “Thank you! It's an honor to have the support of my neighbors and friends to represent our district at the State House.”

Ballot questions

In addition to statewide ballot questions, Springfield and Holyoke voters were asked to weigh in on whether or not their communities should adopt the Community Preservation Act (CPA), which would allow the cities to raise funds via a 1 percent property tax surcharge in addition to current taxes for the purpose of advancing affordable housing, parks and open space, and historic preservation projects. Opponents claimed the CPA was an additional tax burden for residential and commercial property owners. The Commonwealth matches the revenues collected by a community. Westfield narrowly passed the CPA a few years ago.

Holyoke voters also approved the act and can expect can expect an average surcharge of around $23 annually. Springfield residents overwhelmingly supported the measure for which the average homeowner would pay an additional $10 a year.