Richard Neal

CHICOPEE – Challenger Jeromie Whalen renewed his call for a new voice and new tactics to bring change to Washington that benefits everyday people.

But the incumbent, U.S. Rep. Richard E. Neal, said during a quick and sometimes testy 30-minute televised debate Wednesday that his challenger was short on details.

The debate came five days before the Sept. 1 primary.

“If we go on maintaining the status quo, we won’t get the things that we need, like Medicare for All or the Green New Deal or surtaxes on the ultra-wealthy,” Whalen, a high school teacher and first-time candidate from South Hadley, told reporters following the debate at WWLP 22’s studios.

Neal, 77, has been in Congress for 37 years and is poised, if Democrats win in November, to reclaim chairmanship of the Ways and Means Committee.

Neal used his debate time to remind viewers of $1.5 billion that came back to the district from the American Rescue Plan Act, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the Inflation Reduction Act, which all passed when he was Ways & Means chairman.

Facing a challenger from the left, Neal made a point to call the Inflation Reduction Act the most important climate change legislation in the history of America.

“There has not been a life in central and western Massachusetts that has not had a positive impact because of the efforts that I’ve made,” Neal said as part of his opening statement. “I’ve been here, I have fought Trump, and I intend to continue to deliver for the people of western and central Massachusetts.”

The debate streamed live on 22News, WWLP.com and the 22News Plus app on Wednesday at 12:30 p.m. and Wednesday at 7 p.m.

It was an at-times testy exchange with Whalen pointedly asking to be referred to as “doctor” having recently earned his Ph.D. Moderator Patrick Berry twice reminded Whalen to stay on topic.

But the challenger needed the opportunity, he said, to get Neal in a forum that the elder man can’t control.

He called out Neal’s campaign fundraising, saying taking money from healthcare lobbyists or the finance industry blocks needed reforms.

Neal countered that he’s raised more than $5.5 million in support of other Democratic candidates and has recruited hundreds of Democrats to run for Congress.

Speaking with reporters, Whalen, who is 39, dismissed Neal’s defense.

“I don’t want my representative going out and raising millions of dollars that aren’t going back into the district. And I see where we are at in the trajectory of the Democratic Party and the weakness of the Democratic Party,” he said.

Neal’s ties to the medical industry slowed laws preventing surprise billing, Whalen said.

But Neal countered that a law on surprise billing eventually passed. “And I’m very proud of it,” Neal said.

Whalen called for a single-payer healthcare system, often referred to as Medicare for All.

A recent Yale study said that a Medicare for All system would have saved 114,000 lives a year and and a trillion dollars. “So why aren’t you for that?” Whalen asked Neal.

“I’m for Medicare for anyone who wants it,” Neal said.

He said he backs a public option that would allow people to keep their private healthcare insurance plans if they are satisfied with them, or elect to join government run insurance.

He pointed to his work on Obamacare, the Affordable Care Act and pledged to roll back Republican challenges to it.

When asked by the moderator how he views recent gains by Democratic Socialist candidates, Whalen said doesn’t identify as a Democratic Socialist, but says he has friends in the movement.

“We need to be proactive. Democrats are always on their heels. We need solutions and we need a lot of them,” he said.

Neal predicted there will be 10 to 12 Democratic Socialists as part of the Democratic caucus in the House come January. They’ll be a part of the arithmetic when it comes to making the Trump administration negotiate in a way it has not with a Republican majority.

“I mean, you’re still looking at the only person that took Donald Trump through four federal court cases all the way to the Supreme Court and won a Supreme Court decision,” Neal told reporters after the debate.

“I’ve opposed him on all of his cuts to healthcare. I’ve opposed him on the cuts to the hospitals. I’ve opposed all of his tax measures, and I’ve been clear about it.”