In Northampton, Mass., the table appears to be set for this November’s elections. That includes the mayor’s race, with Tuesday’s preliminaries narrowing the field to the incumbent and a longtime local business advocate.
With commanding leads in most all of the city’s wards, Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra secured first place Tuesday night – 2991of 6,301 ballots counted, the clerk’s office says - with challenger Jillian Duclos in a distant-second.
Speaking with WAMC during her results watch party at Spoleto Restaurant, Sciarra said she was grateful for residents coming out in such numbers.
“It means so much to me - I'm very proud of the work that we, as a community, have been able to do for the last four years ... it feels good to have it be recognized in this way, in the preliminary, and I'm just excited to move on and keep working on it,” she said.
Less than an hour after polls had closed, the mayor and attendees seemed more interested in the preliminary council races - cheering as results were read aloud while hoping for strong showings from candidates and Sciarra supporters like Councilor At-Large incumbent Garrick Perry, who secured the most votes in the At-Large contest (2,249).
Sciarra said she looks forward to having “deeper conversations” on city matters with her challenger, Duclos, the former executive director of the Downtown Northampton Association.
Duclos herself celebrated her second-place finish in the village of Florence. JJ’s Tavern was filled with her supporters, as well as various city council candidates endorsed by the Support Our Schools PAC, like Ward 1 candidate Michele Ronco and Ward 5 candidate Luke Rotello.
The group advocates for increased spending at Northampton Public Schools, plus the restoration of programs and staff lost via previous budget cuts. Duclos says she doesn't take their endorsement of her campaign lightly.
“I come from a grassroots movement background and I really believe in that kind of energy and that kind of showing up in that way,” she told WAMC. “That's the role of a constituency, that's the role of the people on the ground. It's the role of leaders to really understand that, and to balance those agendas and those needs…”
Duclos secured about half of Sciarra’s vote total – 1,511, according to unofficial results. That's nearly 300 more than Dan Breindel’s 1,214 and well-ahead of David Dombrowski’s 482.
The latter two were eliminated from November’s ballot. WAMC has reached out to both campaigns for comment, with Dombrowski declining and the Breindel campaign taking to Facebook, thanking supporters while adding “we’re also determined to keep this momentum going.
“We know that together, we can continue to push for real change in Northampton—so that it can truly be a beacon for progressive politics, not just in name and talk, but in action,” the Sept. 19 post read.
City council preliminary results
In the case of the city’s Councilor At-Large races, Perry, along with Benjamin Spencer, Deborah Henson and Margaret Robbins advanced to the Nov. 4 ballot, while Yakov Kronrod and William O’Dwyer were eliminated
In Ward 1 Ronco and Gwenerva Nabad advanced while Nikolas Letendre-Cahillane came up short. In Ward 3, incumbent Quaverly Rothenberg and Laurie Loisel secured the most votes while Ace Tayloe was eliminated, and in Ward 5, Rotello and Aline Davis were the top two candidates – edging out David Murphy.
All Northampton preliminary election results can be found here.
Preliminaries elsewhere in the Pioneer Valley
Northampton was not the only city holding preliminary elections Tuesday night. In Chicopee, voters advanced businessman Raj Sangvi and school committee member Sandra Ann Peret in what turned out to be a competitive city collector contest. City Council Vice-President Frederick Krampits was eliminated.
In Holyoke, Ward 1 City Councilor Jenny Rivera will face Victor Machado DeJesus in November, while the Ward 5 School Committee race will feature Jens Michaelsen and Aida Luz Oquendo Oquendo in November.
School committee candidate James Rossmeisl and Ward 1 City Council candidate Jose Candelario were eliminated, respectively.
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This piece originally aired on Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2025. Initially focused on the mayoral race, content from another story on races in Chicopee and Holyoke have been added to this piece, in addition to election result responses from Northampton's Breindel and Dombrowski.
