Don Humason thanks his supporters at his victory party Tuesday evening at East Mountain Country Club. (Photo by Carl E. Hartdegen)
WESTFIELD – Don Humason took the mike shortly after arriving at East Mountain Country Club about 9 p.m. Tuesday evening and said “We did it. Again.”
He reported that his challenger, Democrat Patrick Leahy, had called just called him to concede.
“He was very cordial,” said Humason. “I appreciate his words of congratulations and I accept them…. Far be it from me to gloat but I’ll do that just for a minute and say I’m certain my opponent doesn’t know what hit him.”
Humason said that although the experts, and amateurs, will analyze the campaign to find out why he won, he told his supporters that he already knows that answer.
“All of you is the reason I won,” he said.
He gave special thanks to a long list of supporters but stopped when he got to his predecessor, and former boss, Mike Knapik.
“Oh yeah, Mike Knapik” he said and went on to garner loud and long laughs when he continued “It’s really his fault I’m here. It’s his fault I’m here right now because if he had gotten out of the way I would have been here earlier.”
Don Humason chats with supporters Themis Rizos of Southampton and George Bitzas of Agawam at his victory party Tuesday evening at East Mountain Country Club. (Photo by Carl E. Hartdegen)
“I’m so happy I could win this seat for you. You all deserve, and you have, my deepest gratitude” he said. “Now I will have the opportunity to go back to Boston from my own two year term” to continue to represent the district he won eleven months earlier in a special election.
“I know I’m going to be welcoming some new colleagues, both Republicans and Democrats over the next couple of weeks. There’s never a shortage of things to do” He said.
Humason’s opponent, Leahy, had conceded earlier at a gathering of his supports at the Dam Café in Holyoke.
“We started this as a grassroots campaign. We knew we’d be outspent but we knew we’d never be out worked,” said Leahy in his concession speech. “He’s debated me at every turn, there’s been no lack of debates, so we have to tip our cap to Don Humason tonight.”
“It’s not the way we wanted it to come out but I wouldn’t want to change anything,” Leahy said. “We are talking about things that are important to the people of this district – earned sick time, minimum wage, marriage equality, pay equality.”
“These are conversations that will continue to be had,” he said. “This race will show Don Humason that he needs to make sure that he represents all of the districts and we will be watching very closely how the next two years go.”
Don Humason plays with his son, Quinn, after speaking to his supports Tuesday evening at East Mountain Country Club. (Photo by Carl E. Hartdegen)
Humason said, in response, that he has been representing his whole district. “I’d agree with him 100%, that’s what I’ve been doing. There’s 11 communities and I haven’t been shy in going to any of them, including his district of Holyoke” he said. “My style as a legislator is to be accountable to the people I represent and to be accountable for the things that I do.”
“The numbers didn’t break our way tonight,” said Leahy to the media after his speech. “We just didn’t have the ability to get to the voters. We ran this on a shoestring budget. As a police officer in Holyoke, I couldn’t raise my own money.
“We were outspent 2-1, but I tip my cap to Don,” he said. “There was no lack of exchanging ideas here. The takeaway here is that we needed to get our message out to more people.”
“I’m disappointed for the 100 or so people who are here, who put their trust in me, who donated to my campaign, who spent hours knocking on doors,” said Leahy. “I had never run for political office before, so this group of people – the amount of support we developed over the year has been heartwarming.”
