Russo plans to challenge Boldyga in Agawam-Hilltowns rep. district

Date: 7/7/2022

AGAWAM — “I think my voice can add more to the district,” said Anthony Russo, who plans to launch his campaign for state representative on June 14.

Russo will challenge six-term incumbent state Rep. Nicholas Boldyga for a seat that will gain seven new towns in the redistricting that followed the 2020 Census.

Boldyga’s current district covers all of Agawam, Granville and Southwick. The new district will lose one precinct of Agawam but add several of the Hilltowns west and north of Southwick and Granville: Blandford, Chester, Huntington, Middlefield, Montgomery, Russell and Tolland.

“No, it’s not going to change anything I do when it comes to how I campaign or how I how I’ve always campaigned,” said Boldyga. “I’ve already actually been up in all of the new towns. I’ve gone to senior centers and local businesses already.”

Boldyga has served as the state representative in the 3rd Hampden District since 2011, after he defeated incumbent Rosemary Sandlin, who is now an Agawam city councilor. Boldyga isn’t worried about facing a Democratic challenger — something he has done successfully every two years since then.

“I think the district, you know, is a very conservative district,” he said. “It’s a district that’s overwhelmingly voted for Republicans over the last 20 years. It’s actually a district that voted for Donald Trump twice, in 2016 and 2020. So I think the district is probably happy that they have a Republican state representative.”

Russo is a relative newcomer to elected politics. His bid for state representative comes just a year after landing his first elected position, on the Agawam City Council. In that election, Russo surpassed all incumbents to finish first in a 14-way race, with 2,964 votes.

Russo describes himself as a centrist and does not believe partisan politics will hold him back in the upcoming election.

“I’ve never been the type of person that goes against my morals and my beliefs,” he said. “So, yes, there is a party next to my name. That party does not define me. That party will never define me. No party will ever define me. I will do what’s right for the for the people. I will do what’s right for every city in town that I represent. If it goes along with [what] the party wants, great, if it doesn’t, great also. … I am not trying to be a Democratic representative or a Republican representative. I’m trying to be the people’s representative. I want to represent what is best for them.”

Both candidates are their parties’ only candidates in the September primary election, and both said they plan an active campaign as the November general election approaches.

“I work extremely hard. I don’t take anything for granted,” said Boldyga. “I don’t know anything about Mr. Russo. I’ve actually never heard of him until he decided to run for City Council last fall, and he’s been on the City Council for a few months but I haven’t heard anything that he’s done on the City Council and I didn’t know even that he was officially running until you called me. So I’m just going to approach this the same way I’ve approached every election cycle in the past and get out and knock on doors. I’ve already been doing that.”

Russo said he thinks Boldyga needs to work harder in Agawam.

“Honestly, I don’t know where Nick is,” Russo said. “I go to every event Agawam has. Sometimes he’s there, sometimes he’s not. I wish he’d be there more. ...  When you’re elected, you’re not just elected to show up, cast a vote and go home. You’re elected to be a representative of that district. Being a representative to that district means you go to things. You get out there with the people, you show up. You go to the opening day of different sporting events, Little League, or peewee football, you go to you go to award ceremony for the kids at the schools. You go to these things, right? You do it. You do it every month of every year, right?”

Boldyga’s campaign website is stickwithnick.org. Russo plans to formally launch his campaign July 14.

In the 6th Hampden District, which includes all of West Springfield and is being redrawn to gain the North Agawam area and part of Westfield, state Rep. Michael Finn, is the only candidate appearing on primary election ballots.