In NEPM’s new series, “Stepping into the Ring,” reporter Karen Brown looked up several former candidates from western Massachusetts who lost their races last year. She wanted to find out what they learned from campaigning. What follows are profiles of three electoral hopefuls who gave politics a try.
Nicole Coakley keeps thinking the next time will be different.
She’s a mental health clinician and mother of five who wants to help run the city where she was born. In 2021, she lost her first campaign for a ward seat on the Springfield City Council, but she figured it was only a first try. Then, in 2023, she ran for one of two open council seats.
“I came in the top 10 out of 21 people that were running. So I was like, ‘Okay, my message is being heard. I'm doing something right, so let's keep going,’” she said.
She tried again in 2025. She hired campaign advisors. Her children helped. She met hundreds of voters. So that loss — after most of the incumbents got their seats back — was hard.
“I was hurt. I just felt like, ‘What happened?’” she said. “And I'm just like, ‘OK, I knocked on doors. I got out there. I did everything right.”
“Change looks like putting new voices at the table”
Moreover, from her conversations with Springfield voters who claimed to be frustrated with the status quo — from the cost of groceries to the state of potholes — she was honestly surprised.
“We can't say we want change when we keep putting the same people back in place,” she said. “Change looks like putting new voices at the table.”
But it’s tough to unseat an incumbent, said Ayesha Wilson, the executive director of Emerge Massachusetts, an organization that works with Democratic women who want to run for office.
“There will be people in your community who would love to have the shiny new shoes, right? The new face, the new person, the new bright, spunky attitude and vibe to be in an elected office,” Wilson said. “And some people are okay with business as usual.”
Coakley took part in the Emerge program herself. At 44, she’s long seen herself as a leader. She was assistant director of the Center for Service and Leadership at Springfield College. She’s getting a PhD in business administration and writing a dissertation on women of color and political leadership.
Still, she said she’s not necessarily a fan of politics.
“But I know I'm a mother and I have to do what I can do to pave the way for other folks that look like me… or even for women,” she said. “If you look, we don't have too many females on our council here in the city of Springfield, and it's not OK.”
Currently, there are four women councilors out of 13 total members in Springfield. But Ayesha Wilson said Emerge is seeing more women like Coakley who are trying to balance politics with home life. That became easier after 2024 state legislation that allows candidates to use campaign money for child care.
“We are seeing business owners, individuals who have to also maintain a job while they're running for office because they don't have the luxury to quit their job to run,” she said.
Wilson campaigned four times herself — twice for Cambridge School Committee and twice for Cambridge City Council. She learned that everything is expensive, from yard signs to campaign buttons. And she said it’s common to meet people who are not as excited about your ideas as you are.
“They slam the door in your face, right? You're like, ‘Oops. OK.’ And you have to just brush your shoulder and say, ‘OK, on to the next door,’” Wilson said. “But I want to be real. That moment is not a feel-good moment.”
Coakley also had tough moments running for office in a city with established political allegiances.
“People look at me, first of all, because I'm Black … and second, because I'm a woman,” Coakley said. “And then third, I just think highly of myself. So now it's like, ‘OK, who does she think she is walking in here speaking the way she's speaking.’”
“Give yourself high fives because you actually ran a race”
She tried to involve groups without political clout in her campaign, like a youth car club from Springfield and low-income parents.
“I understand the families that are struggling, so it was kind of hard to ask them, ‘Hey, can you donate $5’ when they're asking me, ‘Hey, do you know anybody that can help me put food on my table?’” she said. “So I'm just like, ‘Oh my God, I can't keep asking them for money.’”
Campaign consultants say that’s a common dilemma: the people candidates want to represent as a leader are not necessarily the people who get them elected.
Ayesha Wilson from Emerge said that’s one of the hard lessons she learned as a candidate herself. She won three local elections but lost her fourth for another City Council term.
“It was just a painful loss and I don't think I'm over it. Not yet. I'm getting there,” she said. “But I encourage people (by saying) it's OK if you lost the race, give yourself grace, but also give yourself high fives because you actually ran a race, which is not easy.”
Coakley said she’s proud her children saw that she works hard and doesn’t give up.
“So I'm really creating a legacy for my children, whether I get into City Council or not.”
That said, Coakley has every intention of getting back in the ring in two years — with a fourth run for Springfield City Council.
This series was edited by Dusty Christensen for NEPM.