Rep Neal maintained his financial advantage over challenger Jeromie Whalen in Q4 2025. Can the ground give Whalen traction? (created with WMP&I and C-SPAN still images)

With February came the first steps toward the 2026 ballot. This week, the office of Secretary of the Commonwealth Bill Galvin released the forms candidate for office will circulate to gather signatures. The beginning of the month also marked another benchmark of the cycle. Fundraising reports for the last quarter of 2025 were due for federal candidates, including those for the 1^st Congressional district.

Springfield Congressman Richard Neal is facing a primary challenge from Jeromie Whalen, a teacher who lives in South Hadley. Whalen has tried to harness ubiquity across the district to counter the advantages Neal has as an incumbent. One of those is fundraising. In the final quarter of 2025, Neal raised nearly ten times as much as Whalen.

Reports filed with the Federal Election Commission show that Neal started the quarter with $3.97 million dollars. Whalen, who announced his campaign in August, began Q4 with $15,743. Neal raised over $412,000 in the last three months of 2025. His challenger raised nearly $43,000. The incumbent closed out 2025 with a touch over $4 million. Whalen had a little over $18,000.

In an interview with New England Public Media this week, Neal confirmed he would be a candidate for reelection. Both have pulled papers to appear on the Democratic primary ballot according to Galvin’s office.

Massachusetts’s 1^st Congressional district covers Berkshire and Hampden counties, the western fringes of Franklin County, the western and southern edges of Hampshire counties and the southwestern edge of Worcester County.

The 1st Mass District’s sheer size presents an obstacle for challengers. (via Wikipedia)

The 413’s other Congressman, James McGovern, is unopposed so far. A Worcester Democrat, his district reaches west into Franklin and Hampshire counties, including Amherst, Greenfield and Northampton.

For several cycles now, opponents of Neal, and primary rivals in particular, have taken aim at his fundraising. Challengers going back at least to 2012, when redistricting shifted the Massachusetts 1^st into Berkshire County, have blasted Neal’s contributions from political action committees (PACs). Most have ties to industry and, to a lesser extent, labor unions.

In the last reporting period, three quarters of Neal’s funds came from such PACs. The rest were from individuals. Whalen’s were only from individuals.

Neal’s fundraising has yet to irk voters in the district, though. The Democratic base’s frustration with their party generally probably remains the bigger risk. Still, in recent weeks, the incumbent has signed onto a movement to impeach Page Six Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and has voted against funding her department.

On the campaign spending side, Neal spent $344,408 last quarter. However, at least $135,000 of that were transfers to other Democratic Party committees. More could be expenses connected to fundraising he does for the party. The other expenditures mirror those of off-years or cycles he faces no opposition. This includes charitable donations, subscriptions, travel and miscellaneous consultants.

The congressman has yet to open the throttle on the ground spending. By contrast, when then-Holyoke Mayor Alex Morse challenged Neal, the incumbent had key campaign staff in place and on payroll proximate to Morse’s launch. His only campaign payroll in Q4 last year was nearly $10,000 for Jeanne Ahern. A retired congressional staffer, she does year-round work for the campaign committee part-time.

Whalen spent $39,271 last quarter. Over $21,000 of that was for what appear to be individuals with campaign roles.

So far, two candidates with no party affiliation are also in the race. Bruce Hunt of Wilbraham formed a committee with the FEC after the quarter ended. Nadia Milleron, an airline safety advocate who also ran in 2024, is running again. She raised $20,455 last quarter and spent nearly $2,900 to end 2025 with $18,756 cash on hand according to Milleron’s FEC filings.

Neal’s financial advantage is, in a word, massive. Whalen’s be-everywhere strategy and outside assistance on the ground could help make up distance. Yet, even if money does not do as much as it once did, it still goes a long way.

Moreover, after three decades in Congress and 50 years in Springfield’s political trenches, Neal tends not to snooze on threats. If his campaign spending picks up, it will mean the race has changed.