Since 1977, Richard Neal has won 3 city council elections, 3 mayoral elections, and 18 United States House of Representatives elections.
Neal began his career in elected office after winning election in 1977 to the city council of Springfield, Massachusetts. After twice winning reelection to the city council (in 1979 and 1981), Neal was elected mayor of the city in 1983. He was twice reelected mayor, in 1985 and 1987.
In 1988, Neal was elected as a Democrat to represent Massachusetts 2nd district in the United States House of Representatives. He was reelected to this district eleven times. In 2012, he was redistricted to Massachusetts 1st district, to which he was elected. He has been reelected to this district six times, with his latest re-election occurring in 2024.
|- | colspan=16 | |- !Year !Winning candidate !Party !Pct !Opponent !Party !Pct !Opponent !Party !Pct !Opponent !Party !Pct !Opponent !Party !Pct |- |1988 | |Richard E. Neal | |Democratic | |80.23% | |Mark Augusti | |Peace, Jobs, Justice | |19.75% | colspan=2 | Write-ins | 0.07% | | | | | | |- |1990 | |Richard E. Neal | |Democratic | |67.97% | colspan=2 | Write-ins | 32.01% | | | | | | | | | |- |1992 | |Richard E. Neal | |Democratic | |53.09% | | Anthony W. Ravosa | |Republican | | 31.07% | | Thomas R. Sheehan | | For the People | | 15.76% | colspan=2 | Write-ins | 0.08% | | | |- |1994 | |Richard E. Neal | |Democratic | |58.52% | | John M. Braire | | Republican | | 36.32% | | Kate Ross | | Natural Law | | 5.08% | colspan=2 | Write-ins | 0.08% | | | |- |1996 | |Richard E. Neal | |Democratic | |71.67% | | Mark Steele | | Republican | | 21.94% | | Scott Andrichak | | Independent | | 4.04% | | Richard Kaynor | | Natural Law | | 2.25% | colspan=2 | Write-ins | 0.10% |- |1998 | |Richard E. Neal | |Democratic | |98.94% | colspan=2 | Write-ins | 1.06% | | | | | | | | | |- |2000 | |Richard E. Neal | |Democratic | |98.91% | colspan=2 | Write-ins | 1.09% | | | | | | | | | |- |2002 | |Richard E. Neal | |Democratic | |99.13% | colspan=2 | Write-ins | 0.87% | | | | | | | | | |- |2004 | |Richard E. Neal | |Democratic | |98.73% | colspan=2 | Write-ins | 1.27% | | | | | | | | | |- |2006 | |Richard E. Neal | |Democratic | |99.27% | colspan=2 | Write-ins | 0.73% | | | | | | | | | |- |2008 | |Richard E. Neal | |Democratic | |98.47% | colspan=2 | Write-ins | 1.53% | | | | | | | | | |- |2010 | |Richard E. Neal | |Democratic | |57.32% | |Thomas A. Wesley | |Republican | | 42.61% | colspan=2 | Write-ins | 0.08% | | | | | | |- | colspan=13 | |- !Year !Winning candidate !Party !Pct !Opponent !Party !Pct !Opponent !Party !Pct !Opponent !Party !Pct |- |2012 | |Richard E. Neal | |Democratic | |98.42% | colspan=2 | Write-ins | 1.58% | | | | | | |- |2014 | |Richard E. Neal | |Democratic | |98.45% | colspan=2 | Write-ins | 1.55% | | | | | | |- |2016 | |Richard E. Neal | |Democratic | |73.34% | |Frederick O. Mayock | | Independent | | 17.88% | | Thomas T. Simmons | |Libertarian | | 8.56% | colspan=2 | Write-ins | 0.22% |- |2018 | |Richard E. Neal | |Democratic | |97.64% | colspan=2 | Write-ins | 2.36% | | | | | | |- |2020 | |Richard E. Neal | |Democratic | |96.51% | Alex Morse | Write-in | 0.45% | colspan=2 | Other write-ins | 3.04% | | | |- |2022 | |Richard E. Neal | |Democratic | |59.97 | |Dean Martilli | |Republican | | 37.32 | colspan=2 | Other write-ins | 0.14% | | | |- |2024 | |Richard E. Neal | |Democratic | |62.37 | |Nadia Milleron | |Independent | | 37.30 | colspan=2 | Other write-ins | 0.33% | | |