Ashe returns to office, Rivera wins Register Date: 11/7/2018 Democrat Brian Ashe has been re-elected as state representative in the 2nd Hampden District, beating his opponent Allison Werder.
On Nov. 6, Ashe was voted to serve Longmeadow, Hampden, Monson and Precincts 2, 3, and 4 in East Longmeadow for a sixth term. He snagged 56.05 percent of the votes, with a total of 10,967 – Werder had a total of 8,599.
The state representative, who has been serving in his position for ten years, delivered his acceptance speech at around 9:45 p.m. at Fazio’s Ristorante & Pizzeria in East Longmeadow, following Werder’s concession. Ashe proceeded to thank his friends, family, campaign staff and late father, Donald Ashe.
“I wouldn’t be here without my father. My father served almost 36 years as Register of Deeds and what he instilled in me, I’ll never forget,” he said. “He always told me to keep my head high, keep your integrity, keep your honesty, keep moving forward – and I tried to live by that throughout the 10 years I’ve been in the House and throughout campaigning. I felt his presence today, and I was thinking about him all day.”
Hampden Sheriff Nicholas Cocchi and state Sen. Eric P. Lesser were among the crowd that celebrated with Ashe at the restaurant.
Ashe, a Springfield native and Longmeadow resident, was first elected to his seat in 2008, in which he succeeded Republican Mary Rogeness. In 2010 and 2012, he defeated Republican Marie Angelides before running unopposed in 2014 and 2016.
Prior to his go with his state representative seat, Ashe had experience working for the Hampden County Sheriff's Department for 16 years. He also served on the Longmeadow Select Board.
Ashe received support from a variety of local and state officials during his most recent campaign, including Rep. Richard E. Neal, Sen. Ed Markey, and Hampden County District Attorney Anthony Gulluni.
As far as upcoming initiatives go, the 10-year veteran told Reminder Publishing he hopes to continue to focus his efforts on tackling the issues he’s been pursuing over the years – specifically, the opioid crisis in Massachusetts.
“I want to continue the things we’ve been doing. The things that always stay in constant are employment, education and public safety,” he said. “We want to continue working on the opioid crisis and doing whatever we can to make sure that we pass effective legislation to take care of people that are dealing [with it], but also to have treatment available for those who need it.”
Massachusetts is currently experiencing an epidemic of opioid-related overdose and death – opioid generally refers to a family of substances that include natural opiates, such as Morphine and Codeine, as well as synthetic and semi-synthetic opioids like Heroin, Oxyopidae and Festally.
According to Mass.gov, these overdoses are driven by underlying chronic disease of opioid addictions or opioid use disorders. Opioid-related deaths in the state were more than four times higher in 2015 than in 2000. The opioid-related death rate in Massachusetts has surpassed the national average, with an especially sharp rise in the last two years.
On top of working on these initiatives, Ashe added that he’s looking forward to another chapter in the House.
Unlike Ashe, Werder came to the race as a political newcomer.
Werder came to Western Masachusetts from New Jersey six years ago. She worked as the president of MassLive and is the co-founder of Women Innovators and Trailblazers (WIT) – a mentoring group that seeks to empower women entrepreneurs and innovators.
As a Longmeadow resident, Werder campaigned on the promises of bringing political change to the district by adding government transparency and restraining on state spending. She also emphasized challenging the “status quo,” claiming, “going along with Boston doesn’t do anything for Western Massachusetts.”
Werder told Reminder Publishing that, despite the loss, she was proud of the race she and her staff ran.
“We’re disappointed, obviously, we ran a really hard race,” she said. “But, you have to let the voters decide – and they spoke pretty clearly. I respect their opinion, we’ll have to dissect the numbers and see where we fell short, but again, we did the best we could and that’s all we could hope for.”
She added that she recognized the challenge of running against an incumbent, citing that “incumbents win 91 percent of the time,” and that she had hopes this would “be the time [we] beat the odds.”
Werder also expressed she didn’t have any current plans to run again and wished Ashe all the best.
“I wanted to give it a try, and I did and I’m glad I did. I learned a ton and I met fantastic people, but running again right now is not on my mind,” she said. “It was a good experience and I’m appreciative of the support. I have lot of respect for Rep. Ashe and I hope he does great work.”
Jordan Houston
Register of Deeds
Register of Deeds is an elected position that is oftentimes far from the public’s mind – unless you have business with the sale or purchase of property, the office is probably not assuming top of mind awareness.
Yet with this year and the death of longtime Register Donald Ashe Sr., voters were offered a choice between Democrat Cheryl Coakley–Rivera and Republican Mare Angelides.
Both women have extensive experience in public service– Angelides has long served on the Longmeadow Select Board, while Coakley–Rivera was a state representative. Both women are attorneys. Both articulated their positions.
Angelides stressed that if elected she would not take a state pension. She also charged that Coakley–Rivera had forged signatures on her nomination papers. The charge led to social media accusation back and forth with Coakley–Rivera’s supporters asserting days before voting that Angelides had false signatures on her paper.
Angelides lost to Coakley–Rivera and she had a reason that she thought made the ultimate difference: “the Blue Wave in Massachusetts.”
Angelides spoke to Reminder Publishing from her campaign’s post – election gathering at Cima’s restaurant in Wilbraham.
Angelides carried Longmeadow, East Longmeadow, Agawam, Monson and Westfield, communities that arguably had a strong Republican presence, but she didn’t carry Springfield or Holyoke.
She believed the office had been swept up in the partisan politics that characterized the mid-term election. She believed Democrats listened to the call to come out and support the party, even though she believed the race for register was not a partisan race.
Angelides noted the sweeping victory of Gov. Charlie Baker over his Democratic opponent was the result of his having four years “to build a coalition and funding to get his message across.”
She added, “We did not have enough time or money to get our full message out.”
Republican candidates for other statewide positions from the Senate to attorney general failed to overcome.
The candidate also believed the ballot questions brought new voters resulting in an “unpredictable electorate.”
Angelides seemed resigned to the outcome of the race, speaking thoughtfully. When asked if she would consider running again, the answer was quick and definitive, “Never.” She will fulfill the rest of her term on the Longmeadow Select Board but then would retire from public office citing she wants the time to spend with her grandchildren. She did add that she would serve on civic committees.
In a message released Wednesday morning, Nov. 7, she said, “Today is a new day! It has been a long and interesting road. From the bottom of my heart I want to thank all of my supporters and voters. I first need to thank my long-suffering husband who has stood next to me and helped me through this election. Tass, I love you to the moon and back.
“Throughout this journey I have been amazed by the generosity of my friends, old and new like Dan Allie who began my signature drive and Mary Hamel who circles the eastern part of the county daily planting signs and spreading the word. My friends are amazing. I cannot name them all.
“Thank you to my mentors – Mary and Dean Rogeness, Don Humason, Todd Smola, Linda Vacon, and Rich Berrera to name a few. The campaign wouldn't have grown if it weren't for those who stepped up to help with my ground game. Thank you to the people from MassVictory, Cecilia Calabrese, Margie Morgan, Mike Eger, Aaron Davenport, Eric Bascom, and so many more.
“A special thank you goes out to Margaret Ashe, the widow of Donald Ashe Sr.. Your vote for me meant more than words can say.
“There are so many others. I can not list everyone, but I hope you know how much I appreciate you all.
“The race is over and the voters have decided. I humbly accept their choice. I am truly grateful to all of you who believed in me and voted for me. I wish Cheryl Coakley–Rivera best wishes in her new position. I look forward to continuing my service to the town of Longmeadow and visiting my grandchildren.”
At Coakley–Rivera’s post-election party, Angelides’ remarks were born out. The room at Christopher’s in Springfield was filled with supporters with key city Democrats the included State Rep. Carlos Gonzalez, developer Heriberto Flores, former City Councilor Brian Santaniello, City Councilors Adam Gomez, Jesse Lederman, Tracye Whitfield.
Rivera told Reminder Publishing that she felted “blessed.” She credited her victory to people who knew her and people who got to know her working on her behalf.
Rivera had an active social media presence, which often depicted her busy schedule of campaigning at a number of public events.
She did feel the turnout helped her and said, “ It was a day we could all cheer for America.”
A key issue in the campaign between the two candidates was whether or not Rivera would replace long-time staff members in the office. While she said she would evaluate the staff, she added, “I’ve talked to people who utilize that office for years and there are wonderful public servants there.”
She does not at this time consider there would be changes to the staff
At 10:48 p.m. Rivera told her supporters she was expecting a concession call from Angelides. No call came at that time, but when one media outlet declared her the winner, the room erupted with cheers and Rivera thanked her supporters.
She said this was not about her, but about the people who supported her.
“This is ‘we’ win,” she declared.
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