I first saw Jeromie Whalen speak at a No Kings rally in Westfield back in October 2025. I was immediately drawn to his passion and his energy and was surprised to find out that he was running for Congress in the primary against incumbent Richard Neal. I met Jeromie as he made his way through the crowd and took a flyer about his campaign. I put the flyer down when I got home and kind of forgot about the campaign.
Fast forward a couple of months and I was driving down Memorial Drive in Chicopee and saw a bright yellow van with a license plate that read “Vanana.” I chuckled as I approached and then saw Jeromie’s name in blue letters on the side of the van. I remembered having met him and when I got home I went to his website and signed up to collect signatures to help get him a place on the ballot.
Shortly after I signed up to volunteer I got a text message from Jeromie thanking me for signing up to collect signatures and letting me know that I could call or text him at any time. I didn’t really believe that it was Jeromie on the other end of that text so I replied and got another response. I signed up to volunteer for a canvass in Chicopee a couple weeks later. I got another thank you text from Jeromie. A couple weeks after that I made a donation to the campaign. Within an hour of me donating my phone rang, it was Jeromie calling to personally thank me for the donation and to ask if there were any issues that were important to me.
I have continued to volunteer with the campaign over the last few months because I believe in what Jeromie is doing and the community that he is building. Jeromie shows up in events in communities every single day. Not just for a photo op, but because he cares about the issues facing the folks that he is asking to represent.
I spent a couple of hours shadowing Jeromie at the World’s Largest Pancake Breakfast in Springfield a couple of weeks ago. I watched him interact with at least 100 people, many of whom he knew by name because he had met them elsewhere on the campaign trail. I witnessed someone who is kind, not because anyone is watching but because it’s the right thing to do. There was a woman volunteering at a table just outside the campaign headquarters who said she really wanted to eat but was alone at her table. Jeromie waited in line for her so she could have a plate to eat. We walked by a table where a young couple was trying to take a selfie. Jeromie offered to take their photo on their phone. They thanked him, and he walked away. He didn’t mention the fact that he was running for Congress. He made that gesture to be kind because that is the person that Jeromie is.
Massachusetts’ 1st Congressional District deserves someone who genuinely cares about the people in their district. We deserve someone who shows up for us, not to better their public image. We deserve someone who believes in the power of community. We deserve Jeromie Whalen.
Patrick Murphy lives in West Springfield.