Voters in parts of the Pioneer Valley are once again casting ballots. Polls are open for preliminary elections in Chicopee and Holyoke, with the most crowded contests in Northampton, including the race for mayor.
A pack of four mayoral candidates will be whittled down to two after Northampton residents have their say Tuesday.
Incumbent Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra, seeking another term, faces three political newcomers.
First elected mayor in 2021, Sciarra’s led Northampton through much of the pandemic – overseeing a city that’s seen business activity fluctuate downtown, school funding become a source of fierce debate and developments like the return of the Iron Horse concert venue and the local Coca-Cola bottling plant waffling on leaving the city.
“The work has been the most challenging I have ever taken on, but it's also the most rewarding, precisely because of who I am doing it for and who I am doing it with,” she said during a candidate forum broadcast by Northampton Open Media. “Thank you for giving me this opportunity, and I ask for your support for a second term as mayor.”
One of Sciarra’s challengers is local truck driver and retired Northampton police officer, David Dombrowski, who has campaigned, in part, on an affordability agenda.
“Your taxes will continue to either, at least, remain where they are or increase over time. There is no solution to fix that unless the city does something for the people,” he said at the same forum.
Former Downtown Northampton Association Executive Director Jillian Duclos, who has been endorsed by the local “Support Our Schools” PAC, organized to advocate for more spending on Northampton Public Schools.
“I really think that we need to remember … we're making decisions around funding or what percentages of budgets go in to certain systems and why, how much the education system and building a strong foundation for students, for teachers: how much that system really touches every part of our community,” she said in an interview with WAMC earlier in the year.
Also a proponent of additional school funding is local artist and activist Dan Breindel, who’s frustration with various city projects and transparency at city hall fueled his decision to run.
“We got into mid-June, and I was saying to myself ‘If nobody's running on a real mandate of change here, nothing's going to change in the city,’ and people need to be made aware of these things in order to realize how vulnerable and sort of toxic this administration is in this election, and that's why I got in - nobody else is doing it,” he told WAMC.
Voters will also make decisions on Councilor At-large candidates, as well as Wards 1, 3 and 5 council seats.
Elsewhere, preliminary elections are underway in Holyoke. In Ward 1, City Councilor Jenny Rivera is facing a challenge from Victor Machado and Jose Candelario. Also, there is a Ward 5 school committee preliminary features Aida Luz Oquendo Oquendo, James Alan Rossmeisl and Jens Michaelsen seeking the seat being vacated by John Whelihan.
In nearby Chicopee, a preliminary's being held for the role of tax collector. Local businessman Raj Sanghvi, school committee member Sandra Peret and Council Vice President Fred Krampits are all looking to get on the November ballot.
