Two Democratic contenders are vying to fill a vacant seat representing the 1st Franklin District at the state level, and both candidates agree: there’s a lot of lost time to make up for.
Greenfield City Council President Lora Wondolowski is facing off against Corinne Coryat, the former chief of staff to the previous 1st Franklin Rep. Natalie Blais, who resigned in January to take on a role at UMass Amherst.
It’s a chance for voters to decide on who should fill a vacancy that has left the district without a working representative this year after House Democrats chose not to hold a special election to replace Blais before November. The winner of the Sept. 1 primary contest will advance to the general elections on Nov. 3 alongside Whately Town Clerk Amy Lavalee, who is running as an independent.
Whoever is elected will represent the district’s 18 municipalities across Franklin County, including Deerfield, Montague, and parts of Greenfield — one of the most rural and agrarian districts in western Massachusetts.
Coryat and Wondolowski both describe themselves as progressive Democrats, but differ in their stance and experience working on key issues like rent control and school budgets.
Coryat says her five years of work under Blais have given her a wealth of expertise in addressing issues for the district. At 27, she is young for a Statehouse candidate, but she said this, combined with her experience, means she can offer a fresh perspective on Beacon Hill.
“Not only am I bringing a new generation of progressive leadership for this region, but I’m bringing a perspective that’s deeply experienced with its local issues,” she said.
Coryat described her time under Blais as a track record of success in representing small rural-town communities, and as exactly the kind of work she would continue to do if elected.
“We’ve delivered some really important change for this region that has completely changed the conversation at the state level about what it means to be a small rural community,” Coryat said. “I’m ready on day one to continue that work.”
At a candidate forum in Greenfield last week, Coryat said one of these important changes involved Chapter 90, the state’s reimbursement program for local roads. She said she and Blais were able to allocate funding based also on road mileage, rather than just population, which has resulted in a larger funding pool for small towns. She also said they were behind the creation of a a director of rural affairs position in the governor’s cabinet, launched in 2023 to better represent rural communities in state government.
Still, Coryat said she would be different from Blais in that her work would involve more of a focus on social justice. As a sexual domestic violence survivor, one of Coryat’s biggest campaign promises is to establish a sexual and domestic violence center in Franklin County. She said there are currently none in both Franklin and Hampshire counties.
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According to Coryat, Blais has been very supportive and present throughout her campaign, but is unable to formally give an endorsement due to her public position at UMass.
Coryat said her attention to rural issues is also what sets her apart from her opponent, Lora Wondolowski, whose background has primarily centered in the city of Greenfield.
Wondolowski first got her start in local governance as a Greenfield city councilor at the tail end of 2023. Since then, she’s already been elected and re-elected City Council president by her colleagues.
Before that, Wondolowski spent most of her time as an organizer and leader in various non-profit organizations, primarily those focused on climate and the environment. She was the founding executive director of the Massachusetts League of Environmental Voters, and of Leadership Pioneer Valley, a non-profit dedicated to leadership development for mid-career professionals.
“A lot of the work that I’ve done throughout my career has been about coalition building and bringing lots of different people from different backgrounds to push for change,” Wondolowski said. “I would continue to do that both within the chamber and in connecting to organizations and others that I’ve worked with.”
Wondolowski has earned the endorsement of 2nd Franklin District Rep. Susannah Whipps, who also represents Greenfield. She described Wondolowski as the “only candidate in this race who is the kind of leader with the right skill set that our region needs at this moment.”
“From my perspective as a legislator, I value colleagues who build relationships, listen thoughtfully, work collaboratively, and stay focused on results. Lora embodies those qualities,” Whipps wrote in a letter published in the Greenfield Recorder.
Wondolowski also has endorsements from several of her colleagues on the Greenfield City Council, including John Bottomley, Sara Brown, and Patricia Williams. She has the endorsement of Franklin County Continuing the Political Revolution, a spinoff group from Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign in 2016.
Wondolowski’s campaign finance records show notable contributions from Montague Selectboard Member Marina Goldman and Greenfield Mayor Ginny Desorgher.
Coryat also received a contribution from Desorgher, with others coming from Northwestern District Attorney David Sullivan, former Greenfield Mayor Roxann Wedegartner, local congressional candidate Jeromie Whalen, and Samuel Lovejoy, a Montague resident whose 1974 act of property destruction against a slated nuclear power plant in that town is often credited as kickstarting that decade’s anti-nuclear movement.
Wondolowski has spent around $18,500 in campaign expenditures since March, primarily on printing and mailing, whereas Coryat has spent just under $8,500 since February, most of which went towards online ads.
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School budget concerns are top of mind for both candidates, especially the need to reform Chapter 70, the state’s funding formula for K-12 public schools that has long been scrutinized for its lack of equity in rural districts.
Both candidates said they would work towards amending the formula to make it more equitable, following the recent revival of the state-level commission responsible for examining the issue.
Wondolowski said she would push to have a “sparsity factor” for rural schools enshrined in the formula, adding that education has been her top priority ever since school budget cuts led her to get involved in local politics in the first place.
Coryat said she’s already spent a lot of time working on Chapter 70 reform for rural schools as a Blais aide, and called herself the best person to continue that work, given that she’s already established working partnerships in other rural districts.
Affordable housing is another issue both candidates said they hope to tackle. While both said they would support measures to increase housing construction and affordability in the area, they disagreed on rent control, a particularly sore topic following the Supreme Judicial Court’s axing of a ballot initiative this year that would have implemented it statewide.
While Wondolowski said she has been fully supportive of rent stabilization and the now-killed rent control ballot initiative, Coryat said she is “cautious” of the impact of proposed rent control measures on small landlords and their ability to make essential housing upgrades, particularly in Greenfield.
“I don’t think it’s a one-size-fits-all situation,” Coryat said. “If we could find a way to do it that continued to support renters and small landlords, I would certainly be supportive.”
In May, the Greenfield City Council unanimously approved a resolution in support of both statewide rent control legislation and the ballot initiative. Both would limit annual rent increases to 5% or to the Consumer Price Index, whichever is lower. Wondolowski said she was proud to see it pass and that she would also work toward more affordable housing development at the state level.
“If there’s not enough housing, then it becomes a landlord’s market, and gives them the ability to increase rents,” she said. “So I also support measures that will help us build more housing.”
Both candidates also referenced a larger affordability crisis, owing in part to rising health insurance costs. Coryat and Wondolowski both said they support single-payer healthcare at the state level.
Wondolowski cited her work on City Council in controlling health insurance costs in Greenfield this past year, saying the city saved $1.2 million by switching to a state-run plan over a local option.
“But that’s just a temporary fix,” she said, adding that if Greenfield were under a single-payer healthcare system, the city could save up to $6 million in health insurance costs. Last year, the City Council passed a resolution in support of the state-level Medicare for All bill currently under review.
Vying to represent a largely agrarian district, both candidates outlined a long list of measures to build more resilient and equitable farms locally.
Both mentioned strengthening the Healthy Incentives Program, which offers SNAP members cash back when purchasing local produce to support farmers and increase food accessibility. They also agreed that access to land was a concern, and said they would support programs to protect agricultural land and expand incentives for young farmers.
Coryat said agricultural and food policy is practically “in her blood” after studying it extensively in college, and that she would make it a strong focus of her tenure in the statehouse.
In a written endorsement, Ben Clark, owner of Clarkdale Fruit Farms in Deerfield, said Coryat “appreciates the value of farms for food security, land preservation, and quality of life in Western Massachusetts.” He added that he was confident she would continue the legacy of “representing and advocating for farms in the 1st Franklin District.”
At a candidate forum in Greenfield last week, Coryat referenced her work on the FARM Act, a bill to support local farms that Blais filed during her tenure as district representative. Among other actions, the act would make the Healthy Incentives Program permanent and offer property tax breaks for new farm construction.
The bill ultimately failed to pass fully through the Legislature last year following Blais’ resignation, but both candidates agreed they would work to push it over the finish line if elected.
In addition to farming, both candidates said they would continue to be strong advocates for the environment in the district.
Both said they support a moratorium on data centers and the expansion of public transportation to curb carbon emissions. Wondolowski said the City Council is currently considering a moratorium in Greenfield. She also said she supports polluter-pay, which would require major carbon emitters to pay for their pollution.
Wondolowski and Coryat also voiced support for the Massachusetts PROTECT Act, a state law recently signed this month that limits local cooperation with immigration enforcement. Both candidates denounced ICE activity in the region, especially on local farms.
“It’s affecting our friends and neighbors,” Wondolowski said. “Some of the first people who were taken away were from Red Fire Farm, which is both in Montague as well as down in Granby.”
Coryat, who is also wrapping up her last semester of law school, said her legal background would be particularly invaluable in defending the state against the Trump administration, which she said has only intensified its attacks on constitutional rights in Massachusetts.