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The 1st 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. Eric Lesser of Longmeadow, a Democrat.

The district consists of eastern neighborhoods of Chicopee and Springfield, and suburban towns in east-central Hampden County and eastern Hampshire County.

Under previous apportionment plans, the district was also known as the Hampden and Hampshire District.

Cities and towns
Under the apportionment plan of 2011, the towns of Belchertown, East Longmeadow, Granby, Hampden, Longmeadow, Ludlow and Wilbraham all lie entirely within the district.

In Chicopee, the 1st Hampden and Hampshire District covers roughly the eastern two-thirds of the city — wards 1, 5 and 6; precinct B of ward 8; and precinct B of ward 9.

Neighborhoods of the city of Springfield in the district include East Forest Park, East Springfield and Sixteen Acres; and parts of Forest Park, Indian Orchard, Old Hill and Upper Hill.

The district's boundaries in Springfield follow precinct lines, including: ward 2, precinct G; ward 4, precinct F; ward 5, precincts D, F, G and H; ward 6, precincts B, D and H; ward 7, all precincts; and ward 8, precinct A.

History
The 1st Hampden and Hampshire District took roughly its present shape in 1993, though the district can trace its history back to the initial Hampden and Hampshire District in 1973. Both its original and current forms are continuations of the former 2nd Hampden District, which was centered on the Hampden County cities of Chicopee and Holyoke in its first iteration, from the 1850s to the early 1970s, and covered east-central Hampden County in the late 1980s to early 1990s.

1975-1978: Hampden and Hampshire
Though today's 1st Hampden and Hampshire district lies entirely east of the Connecticut River, the original Hampden and Hampshire District designation was the result of the 1970s expansion of the 2nd Hampden District, largely west of the river, to cover suburban towns in Hampshire County. Upon its formation in the district lines drawn in 1973, the Hampden and Hampshire District consisted of ward 1 of Springfield, ward 1 of Westfield, and all of Chicopee, Holyoke, Huntington, Montgomery, Southampton and Westhampton.

In the first election held in the district, Roger L. Bernashe, the incumbent senator in the soon-to-be-renamed 2nd Hampden District, defeated two challengers Louise K. Rhodes and Joseph Kustwan III in the 1974 Democratic primary election. He did not face a November challenger. Bernashe was elected again with no challengers in 1976.

1979-1989: 1st Hampden and Hampshire
The rest of Westfield joined the newly renamed 1st Hampden and Hampshire District in the apportionment of 1977, along with Chicopee, Holyoke and Southampton. The other towns, and ward 1 of Springfield, moved to the new 2nd Hampden and Hampshire District.

In the 1978 election, Bernashe was defeated in the primary by 24-year-old John P. Burke of Holyoke, who garnered 13,135 votes to the Chicopee incumbent's 9,734. Burke did face a general election contest.

Burke faced only Democratic primary opponents in 1980 and 1982, and was re-elected with no opposition at all in 1984 and 1986.

1989-1994: Hampden and Hampshire
In the redistricting of 1987, the district was again renamed Hampden and Hampshire District and shifted slightly west, giving up part of Chicopee and gaining the suburban and rural towns of Easthampton, Granville, Montgomery, Russell and Southwick, along with Holyoke and Southampton.

Burke was uncontested for re-election in 1988. In 1990, Burke did not run for re-election and four Democrats vied for the nomination. Holyoke Mayor Martin J. Dunn took 49.7% of the vote, ahead of challengers Dolores Asselin, Kenneth Haar and Daniel Knapp. He also won a contested general election.

Dunn served only one term and did not run for re-election. Instead, Easthampton state Representative Shannon P. O'Brien narrowly won the Democratic nomination, with 10,529 votes to Joseph J. Chessey Jr.'s 10,328.

O'Brien also served only one term, giving up her Senate seat to run as the 1994 Democratic nominee for state treasurer.

This district, with a few small boundary changes, was renamed the 2nd Hampden and Hampshire District in 1993.

1995-present: 1st Hampden and Hampshire
New lines drawn in 1993 brought the 1st Hampden and Hampshire District to roughly its present dimensions. The new district was based on the former 2nd Hampden District, covering eastern neighborhoods and suburbs of Springfield. Included within the district were the eastern two-thirds of Springfield; and the towns of East Longmeadow, Granby, Hampden, Longmeadow, Ludlow and Wilbraham.

State Senator Brian P. Lees, who had been elected in the 2nd Hampden District in 1988, was re-elected in the new 1st Hampden and Hampshire District with no primary or general election opponents in 1994, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002 and 2004. The district's boundaries were adjusted in 2001 to follow a slightly different boundary in Springfield, and add the southern half of Belchertown in eastern Hampshire County.

The 2006 election, with Lees choosing not to run, featured contested primaries in both major parties. Enrico John Villamaino III took just over half the vote in a three-way Republican contest, beating Kevin Q. Corridan and Ronald J. Cutler. In the Democratic primary, Gale D. Candaras polled at 46% in a three-way race, beating Brian M. Ashe and Rosemarie Mazza-Moriarty.

Candaras was re-elected with no opponent in 2008.

Reapportionment in 2011 again adjusted the borders in Springfield, added the remaining portions of Belchertown, and added the eastern half of Chicopee to the 1st Hampden and Hampshire District. Candaras was re-elected with no opponents in 2012 but chose not to run for re-election in 2014.

For the open seat, former Obama campaign and White House aide Eric Lesser came first among five candidates for the Democratic nomination, with 32.3% of the vote. Other candidates were Timothy C. Allen (31.2%), James "Chip" Harrington (25.2%), Aaron L. Saunders (8.5%) and Thomas A. Lachiusa (2.6%). Debra A. Boronski was unopposed for the Republican nomination. Mike Franco, despite not living in the district, qualified for the ballot as an independent candidate with an America First political designation.

In 2016, James "Chip" Harrington, who had run against Lesser as a Democrat in 2012, ran as a Republican.