Challenging Incumbents - As a High School Teacher
In United States congressional elections, candidates running against incumbents face tough barriers such as name recognition, establishment of donor networks, and party endorsement. In fact, incumbents have ‘franking privilege’ at their disposal–the ability for a member of Congress to send mail to constituents’ residences about the member’s achievements, legislation, or promotional materials. These advantages run parallel to the idea of the ‘career congress,’ the notion that Congress has become professionalized throughout history, and is now a job that can become a career. (Congressional Research Service 2025) Currently, members of Congress’s number one goal is reelection. In 2024, 95% of all incumbents across the United States were reelected, compared to the 1980 Senate reelection cycle, which saw only 55% of incumbents return to their positions. (OpenSecrets n.d-a) This issue is particularly potent within the Democratic Party as the rift between institutional Democrats and progressives grows.
With this knowledge, why would anybody in their right mind spend years of their life campaigning just to have a 5% chance of winning an election? That’s the question I posed to my former high school videography teacher turned political candidate, Jeromie Whalen. Whalen is running for the House of Representatives in Massachusetts' First Congressional District against an incumbent, Richard Neal, who has held office since 1989. (Jeromie Whalen for Congress n.d.-a) Neal has been challenged throughout his 36-year tenure, but never by a former teacher with a community-funded, grassroots-organized campaign. Whalen has a goal of raising $3 million by next September. But with a few phone calls, Neal could raise $3 million in a week. Neal is, percentage-wise, the highest corporate PAC-funded member of Congress, with 74.36% of his donations coming from corporate PAC donors. (OpenSecrets n.d.-b)
Running against a candidate like Neal, who exemplifies the larger concern of a growing kleptocracy in the United States, can be viewed as a daunting task by outsiders. Whalen doesn’t see it that way. Whalen has two characteristics that Neal cannot compete with: passion towards the issues of his constituents and the stalwart ideals it takes to be a grassroots candidate. Whalen spent his career as a civil servant, spending over a decade as a public school teacher in my hometown of Northampton, Massachusetts. As a public educator, Whalen has seen, firsthand, the legislative impact that defunding schools, social security, and minimum wage have had on students and their families. From this position, Whalen seeks to become an active advocate in Massachusetts’ First Congressional District, the same district that Richard Neal has been virtually absent from since his inauguration in 1989. In fact, Whalen’s strongest line of attack against the incumbent is Neal’s lack of presence in the communities he represents.
However, Whalen is not the first candidate to oppose Representative Neal. In 2020, a professor from the University of Massachusetts Amherst attempted to campaign against Neal. Alex Morse, a native of Holyoke, Massachusetts, grew up in Massachusetts First Congressional District under Representative Neal. Affected by Neal’s policy directly, Morse criticized Neal for his lackadaisical approach to issues such as climate change, Medicare for All, and oversight of the first Trump administration. (Stewart 2020)
Like Whalen, Morse emerged from political obscurity to challenge Neal, facing similar financial obstacles while simultaneously accusing Neal of being out of touch with constituents and serving corporate interests. While Morse’s insurgent efforts began to take effect, a letter accusing Morse of having unconsensual sexual relations was sent to a student paper at the university by an anonymous source. (Krieg & Schouten, 2020) This severely curtailed Morse’s efforts in the election, which ultimately resulted in Neal remaining in his position for a 30th year.
Neal denied allegations of attempting to sabotage Morse’s campaign, but LGBTQIA+ advocacy groups claim that Neal and his benefactors used a dirty, homophobic strategy to deny Morse a fair chance at running. Morse is an openly gay man who admitted to having consensual relations with students during his tenure as a guest lecturer at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. (Peters 2020) This speaks to another example of the power that incumbents have over new candidates: the resources to intrusively investigate their opponents. These grassroots candidates do not have the funds, nor the time, to run independent investigations into the personal lives of the candidates. The lack of a ‘war chest,’ or an emergency fund that allows for a campaign to respond to negative PR, is a clear indicator of the struggles that grassroots candidates face.
Nevertheless, hope is not lost when a candidate attempts to turn the tide against an incumbent opposition. As previously mentioned, a candidate new to the political scene is at a disadvantage due to an incumbent's name recognition. However, they lack a negative connotation to their name, which, in the right context, can be considered refreshing. Take, for example, the election of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC), who in 2018 defeated incumbent Joseph Crowley, a Democrat who was once considered to be the heir to Nancy Pelosi. AOC achieved this through her strong social media presence and support from other progressive leaders. (Goldmacher & Martin 2018)
When looking at the potential for Whalen to succeed in the 2026 midterm elections, it is important to be realistic. The goal of raising $3 million is a noble one, but could be considered lofty. Still, to win an election against a corporate PAC giant, the dynamics of the campaign must lean towards grassroots organization rather than financial prowess. To do this, Whalen must attend tens, if not hundreds, of events in Massachusetts’ First Congressional District. Recently, Whalen attended five different ‘No Kings Day’ protests, where he positioned himself as the anti-Trump candidate, while simultaneously doing the work on the ground that Neal has not. (Jeromie Whalen for Congress n.d.-b) AOC emphasized her Hispanic roots in New York’s 14th Congressional District, one that is majority-minority. AOC leveraged her life growing up in the district, while simultaneously showing her affinity for those she serves– highlighting how she was more similar to her constituents than Crowley was. AOC and Whalen both utilize the principle of similarity when addressing their constituents, a strategy that worked well in New York and could potentially shock the status quo in Massachusetts.
In a world where the incumbent reigns supreme, new candidates face serious economic disadvantages. In many cases, including the case of the race between Jeromie Whalen and Richard Neal, the odds are stacked against the newcomer. Although it may seem statistically unlikely for a grassroots candidate without corporate funding to succeed, there are success stories and strategies to double down on that a candidate can take advantage of. Candidates must face, head-on, the financial inhibitors of not being an incumbent, because it allows them to embrace the needs of their constituents, rather than having to bend to the will of benefactors. With the upcoming midterm elections less than a year away, Democrats are expected to shock the Republican controlled Congress. (Montanaro & Moore 2025) Institutional Democrats, like Richard Neal, are on the chopping block, as the progressive insurgency wields more power each and every day. Jeromie Whalen and candidates with views akin to his could see an overthrow of the status quo, one that is long, long overdue.
References
CNN. 2020. “Alex Morse vs. Richard Neal Massachusetts Primary.” CNN, August 26, 2020. Accessed November 11, 2025. https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/26/politics/alex-morse-richard-neal-massachusetts-primary.
Congressional Research Service. 2025. Congressional Careers: Service Tenure and Patterns of Member Service, 1789–2025. CRS Report R41545. Accessed November 11, 2025. https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/R41545.
Jeromie Whalen for Congress. 2025. “Meet Jeromie Whalen.” Accessed November 11, 2025. https://www.whalenforcongressma.com/.
New York Public Radio. 2025. “Poll: Democrats Have Biggest Advantage for Control of Congress in 2026.” NPR, November 19, 2025. Accessed November 11, 2025. https://www.npr.org/2025/11/19/nx-s1-5611088/poll-democrats-republicans-trump-approval-inflation.
The New York Times. 2018. “Joseph Crowley, Ocasio-Cortez Democratic Primary.” The New York Times, June 26, 2018. Accessed November 11, 2025. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/26/nyregion/joseph-crowley-ocasio-cortez-democratic-primary.html.
The New York Times. 2020. “Richard Neal vs. Alex Morse Massachusetts Primary.” The New York Times, September 1, 2020. Accessed November 11, 2025. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/01/us/politics/neal-morse.html.
OpenSecrets. 2025a. “Re-election Rates Over the Years.” Accessed November 11, 2025. https://www.opensecrets.org/elections-overview/reelection-rates.
OpenSecrets. 2025b. “Richard E. Neal: Summary.” Accessed November 11, 2025. https://www.opensecrets.org/members-of-congress/richard-e-neal/summary?cid=N00000153.
Vox. 2020. “Richard Neal Wins Massachusetts Democratic Primary — Alex Morse.” Vox, September 1, 2020. Accessed November 11, 2025.https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2020/9/1/21409160/richard-neal-wins-massachusetts-democratic-primary-alex-morse.