UPDATED 1:30PM: To reflect a correction. Rep Puppolo had $237,139 in his campaign account at the end of May, not $178,029.

Will 12th Hampden voters want another syllable in their rep? (created via images from puppolo.com & Facebook/Lachenmeyer campaign)

Fifteen months before the Democratic primary, a legislative race has already begun in the valley. Michael Lachenmeyer, a Wilbraham native, announced Monday he would challenge 12^th Hampden Rep Angelo Puppolo in next year’s Democratic primary. Such an early start is unusual for legislative races, yet it presents opportunities for both incumbent and challenger.

Puppolo, a one-time Springfield City Councilor, is one of the region’s longest-serving reps. Among the 413’s legislators, only Warren Rep Todd Smola has served longer. That longevity will feature prominently in his own reelection pitch. However, Lachenmeyer, who has worked on campaigns and in education, intends to turn that into a liability, too.

Lachenmeyer’s release mentions a legislative committee Puppolo co-chairs and pans the panel’s inactivity and stipend for its leaders. The challenger all but says Puppolo has been in office too long.

“Representative Puppolo has been in office since I was eight years old, that’s more than 18 years,” Lachenmeyer said in his announcement release.

Puppolo, in an email, said he was focused on his job as a legislator. However, he indicated he was ready for a race.

“Make no mistake about it, I’m running for reelection and take any challenger seriously and will work hard to continue representing the 12th Hampden District,” he emailed. “We need strong, experienced and committed leaders now more than ever.”

The 12^th Hampden District includes Wilbraham, northerly chunks of East Longmeadow and Monson and much of the Boston Road, East Forest Park and 16 Acres neighborhoods of Springfield.

The 12th Hampden is in teal. (via malegislature.gov)

General election challenges do occur in Western Mass. However, like much of the commonwealth, primary contests against incumbents are rarer than not. Springfield hosted two such races last year when Senator Adam Gomez and Representative Bud Williams faced opposition for renomination. However, their opponents either held office or had been active in local politics for years.

While Lachenmeyer has worked on local campaigns—and interned for WMP&I in 2020—he only returned to the region relatively recently. Before that he worked for City Year in Tulsa, Oklahoma and received bachelors and masters degrees in Chicago. He grew up in Wilbraham and attended Hampden-Wilbraham schools before going away to college.

In a brief interview, Lachenmeyer said this background prepared him to be a legislator in a tough political environment like the State House.

“I worked in one of the worst school systems in the country,” he said. “The suits on Beacon Hill do not intimidate me.”

Lachenmeyer said his focus was on expanding health care access, funding education and digital regulation. He pointed to looming federal cuts to education that Massachusetts will need to prepare for even as strains increase among rural school districts. He cited worries in Monson about funding its schools in the coming years.

With the rise of artificial intelligence, Lachenmeyer cited the need for proper regulations. He pointed to his own experience in the area. Per his LinkedIn profile, he worked with a contractor for Google before signing up with Teach for America in Springfield.

Neither chamber is known for primary challenges, though the House has a few successful ones out east in the last few cycles (WMP&I)

Waxing idealistic, he said he seeks to both be a voice for voters and work to make it more practical to hold their elected officials to account.

“I want to bring more transparency to the State House,” he said. “Right now, I see the House and the Senate are fighting a lot of the rules that would do that.”

Puppolo took office in 2007, succeeding Gale Candaras in a district that has largely retained its shape over the years. In that time, he has maintained close relationships with leadership across three speakerships. That invites some criticism like Lachenmeyer’s.

However, it has also firmed up his place as a conduit between the region—especially Springfield—and the lower house on Beacon Hill. While there are complaints about the vagueness of his positions, local officials from across the ideological spectrum have found him helpful to get important if low-profile legislation through the House.

The early start could help Lachenmeyer face the most blatant obstacle: money. Puppolo entered June with $237,139. He has built that campaign war chest over many years and in that time has faced few challenges.

This sum is more than enough to fund a primary and general election challenge in the same year. Still, what races he has had since 2006 have almost all been against Republicans. The district could be marginally competitive in a good year for Republicans, which 2026 is unlikely to be. (Lachenmeyer said the dearth of primary challenges to Puppolo was a factor in his decision to run.)

However, the cap on campaign contributions follows the calendar year, not the election cycle. In theory, should Lachenmeyer find donors able to give him the $1,000 maximum this year, he could return to them for more money in 2026.

The same holds true of Puppolo, though after 10 terms in the House, he hardly has a problem raising money.

“Our committee just came off a very successful fundraising event, and we now continue to raise even more funds and work even harder to make sure we get our message out to the voters,” he told WMP&I.