People stood on a street corner outside the Northampton Senior Center waving colorful signs, hoping to raise awareness for their candidates on Sept. 28. This preliminary election narrowed the number of mayoral candidates from four to two and City Councilor At Large candidates from five to four.
Gina-Louise Sciarra, a Smith alumna, and Marc Warner beat out the other candidates for mayor. They will advance to the general election on Nov. 2. Sciarra received 3,195 votes to Warner’s 1,147, according to unofficial results from the City Clerk’s Office.
“I feel good. We had a good night,” said Sciarra. “I was definitely pleasantly surprised by the percentage I won by. We had done so much work for so many months, but an election is the ultimate test of all that effort you put in.”
As mayor, Sciarra will work to redesign downtown and main street, support the community resilience hub, increase state funding for public schools, and get the new department of community care, a non-police emergency response system, operational by the 2023 fiscal year.
“I really believe strongly in [Sciarra’s] vision and progressive values,” said Alex Russell, who was holding up a Sciarra sign outside the senior center, “specifically equality, justice, and public education.” Russel met Sciarra because their kids go to public school together.
Warner, who is also progressing to the general, is running his campaign for mayor on the importance of good management in city hall, which he said he has the professional skills to provide. “I’ve enjoyed the campaign. It has been a fun, meaningful challenge,” said Warner. “I’m delighted to get the chance to keep it going until the general election in November.”
Two of Warner’s big concerns are economic development and the downtown area. With the Coca-Cola plant closing, he wants to try to keep business in the city. He also wants to examine the various proposals for the redesign of downtown and enforce the city ordinances on panhandling, littering, smoking cannabis in public, etc.
“I’ve got five weeks to get my message to as many Northampton voters as possible,” said Warner, “so I’ll be knocking on a lot more doors, giving a lot more speeches and interviews, and showing up at a lot more events around town.”
In the preliminary election for City Councilor At Large, Marissa Elkins, Jamila Gore, David Murphy, and Michael Quinlan will progress to the general. Michelle Serra, with 1,268 votes, came in last and will not advance.
On election day, Serra, who was campaigning outside the senior center, said “I feel like however it turns out it was a great experience. I’ve gotten to have some great conversations with residents.”
In the next month, these candidates will campaign to the community, hoping to win their votes in the Nov. 2 election.
“We’re just gonna keep doing what we’ve been doing, sharing our visions for Northampton and asking everyone in Northampton to join us and make that vision a reality,” said Sciarra, “as a ‘Smithie,’ I’m really proud to be running in Northampton.”
