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The 2nd Hampden and Hampshire Senatorial District is one of 40 electoral districts that each send one senator to the Massachusetts Senate. The district is represented by state Sen. Donald Humason Jr. of Westfield, a Republican.

The district consists of several urban, suburban and rural communities in western Hampden and Hampshire counties, including Holyoke, Westfield and parts of Chicopee.

Under previous apportionment plans, the district was also known as the 2nd Hampden District and Western Hampden District.

Cities and towns
Under the apportionment plan of 2011, the largest cities to lie entirely in the district are Holyoke and Westfield. Smaller towns in the district are Agawam, Easthampton, Granville, Montgomery, Russell, Southampton, Southwick and Tolland. Some northwestern neighborhoods of the city of Chicopee are also in the district: ward 7, both precincts; ward 8, precinct A; and ward 9, precinct A.

Of the cities and towns in the district, only Easthampton and Southampton are in Hampshire County; the rest are in Hampden County. Apart from the four Chicopee precincts, which are directly across the river from Holyoke, the entire district lies west of the Connecticut River.

History
The 2nd Hampden and Hampshire District can trace its history back to the original state senatorial districts created in 1857. Before the 1857 apportionment, senators were elected by county, with some counties serving as multi-member districts. The towns that would become Hampden County were initially part of Hampshire County, and helped elect its four senators; after the formation of a separate Hampden County in 1812, the three Pioneer Valley counties shared three or four senators. After 1821, Hampden and Hampshire counties each elected two senators on their own.

1857-1876: Western Hampden
When a statewide system of single-member senate districts was established in 1857, Hampden County was split in two, with a Western Hampden District serving all of the Hampden County towns in the present 2nd Hampden and Hampshire District. This district included Chicopee and Ludlow, east of the river, and the entire portion of Hampden County west of the river: Agawam, Blandford, Chester, Granville, Holyoke, Montgomery, Russell, Southwick, Tolland, West Springfield and Westfield.

1876-1906: 2nd Hampden
In the redistricting of 1876, the Western Hampden District was renamed the 2nd Hampden District. It included all of the same towns, with the addition of Longmeadow (including the territory of the future East Longmeadow) from the former Eastern Hampden District.

In 1886, the town of Hampden, east of Longmeadow, was moved from the 1st Hampden District to the 2nd Hampden District. The 2nd Hampden District also lost three of its western towns, with Blandford, Chester and Russell moving to the Berkshire and Hampshire District.

1906-1970: 2nd Hampden
Radical reapportionment in 1906 curtailed the district's boundaries to the four communities of Chicopee, Holyoke, West Springfield and Westfield, which the eastern towns joining the largely rural Worcester and Hampden District and the southern and western towns joining the Berkshire, Hampshire and Hampden District.

In 1916, the district's footprint was reduced further, to Chicopee, Holyoke, and ward 1 (the northwestern corner) of Springfield. Its boundaries remained the same for the next 54 years.

1971-1973: 2nd Hampden
In the redistricting of 1970, towns outside Hampden County were added for the first time, though the 2nd Hampden District name was initially retained. Communities in the district now included ward 1 of Springfield; all of Chicopee and Holyoke; and the Hampshire County towns of Hadley, Huntington and Southampton.

Roger L. Bernashe was elected in this district in 1970, winning 45.8% of the vote in a five-way Democratic primary election. His opponents were Robert P. Foley (26.6%), Chal E. Chesky (15.8%), William H. Baker (7.6%) and Daniel C. Boyle (4.1%). He did not face a general election opponent.

The 2nd Hampden District was eliminated from the map in 1973. Its communities, minus Hadley, formed the core of the new Hampden and Hampshire District.

1979-1987: 2nd Hampden and Hampshire
While the Chicopee-Holyoke-Westfield area continued as part of the 1st Hampden and Hampshire District, the other western Hampden and Hampshire county towns were joined with western neighborhoods of Springfield in a new 2nd Hampden and Hampshire District in the apportionment of 1977. This district included wards 1, 3, 4 and 6 of Springfield; and all of Agawam, Blandford, Chester, Chesterfield, Cummington, Granville, Goshen, Huntington, Longmeadow, Middlefield, Montgomery, Plainfield, Russell, Southwick, Tolland, West Springfield, Westhampton and Worthington.

State Senator Alan Sisitsky, the incumbent from the former Hampden and Berkshire District, was re-elected in the 2nd Hampden and Hampshire District in 1978 after fending off a Democratic primary challenge from future Springfield Mayor Michael Albano.

Sisitsky defeated a primary challenger again in 1980, Anthony C. Bonavita of Agawam. Again he had no general election opponent. After a tumultuous feud with Senate leadership and increasingly "erratic" behavior, he announced he would not seek re-election in 1982.

Both major parties had contested primaries that year. Linda Melconian, a former aide to Congressman Tip O'Neill, got the Democratic nod with 36.1% of the vote, ahead of Leonard M. Wanger (35%), Brian A. Santaniello (24.4%) and Michael J. Julian (4.5%). For the Republican nomination, David A. Robinson beat Joseph V. Maruca, 54.4% to 45.3%.

Melconian was re-elected with no opposition in 1984 and 1986.

This district was split up in the redistricting of 1987, with the northern towns joining the Franklin and Hampshire District, the Springfield-area communities forming the 1st Hampden District, and the western Hampden County core retaking the Hampden and Hampshire District name. Melconian was re-elected in the Hampden and Hampshire District.

1987-1993: 2nd Hampden
In the redistricting of 1987, the 2nd Hampden District name was attached for the first time to a district entirely east of the Connecticut River, containing wards 2, 4 and 5 of Chicopee, wards 2, 5, 7 and 8 of Springfield, and all of East Longmeadow, Hampden, Ludlow and Wilbraham.

With no incumbent running for re-election in this district, three Democrats sought their party's nomination. Springfield City Council President Francis G. Keough won 45.1% of the vote, ahead of Sean F. Cahillane (30.2%) and Edward L. Ryan (24.7%). Brian Lees was the only Republican candidate.

In 1992, Timothy J. Rooke won the Democratic primary with two-thirds of the vote, over Alan S. Peck.

This district, with slight modifications, was renamed the 1st Hampden and Hampshire District in 1993. Lees was re-elected in that district in 1994.

1993-present: 2nd Hampden and Hampshire
New lines in 1993 brought back the 2nd Hampden and Hampshire District, covering the western cities and towns of Hampden and Hampshire counties. The district included most of Chicopee and all of Holyoke, Montgomery, Russell, Southwick and Westfield in Hampden County, and all of Easthampton and Southampton in Hampshire County.

Most of these towns had previously been represented by state Senator Shannon P. O'Brien, who decided instead to run for state treasurer, leaving an open seat in the 1994 election. Michael D. Bissonnette, a future Chicopee mayor, defeated David K. Bartley of Holyoke, son of a former state House speaker, in the Democratic primary, 55.8% to 44.1%. Bissonnette faced Westfield Republican state Representative Michael Knapik in the general election.

Knapik was re-elected with no opposition in 1996, 1998 and 2000.

Redistricting added the western Hampden County towns of Blandford, Chester, Granville and Tolland in 2001. In 2002, Knapik faced his first Democratic opponent in eight years, former Holyoke Mayor Daniel Szostkiewicz.

Knapik was re-elected with no opposition in 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010 and 2012.

Agawam joined the district in the redistricting of 2011, while the 2nd Hampden and Hampshire District's footprint in Chicopee was reduced, and Chester and Blandford were lost to the expanding Berkshire, Hampshire, Franklin and Hampden District

Knapik resigned mid-term in August 2013 to take a job at Westfield State University. In the special primary elections held later that year, state Representative Donald Humason Jr. of Westfield -- who held Knapik's former seat in the House -- defeated Mike Franco of Holyoke, garnering 87% of the GOP vote. On the Democratic side, David K. Bartley of Holyoke beat Easthampton Mayor Michael Tautznik, 51.4% to 47.8%. The special general election was held November 5, 2013, the same date as city elections in Agawam, Chicopee, Holyoke and Westfield.

In the regular elections a year later, Patrick T. Leahy polled at 70.6% to gain the Democratic nomination over Christopher J. Hopewell (29.1%).