The Northampton municipal elections are coming up on Nov. 7 and voters will be able to cast their ballots for eight different races.
With only two seats available, four are vying for the at-large city council seats. David A. Murphy who was a councilor from 2006 to 2020 and lost re-election in 2021 is now running for the at-large seat. Incumbent Marissa Elkins, who was elected to the seat in 2021 with a margin of less than 0.1%, is running for re-election. Current Ward 4 representative Garrick M. Perry is running for the at-large seat, as is Roy C. Martin, a self-proclaimed “Professional Candidate” who has run for mayor ten times before.
None of the ward seats are contested, so voters in each ward will have the option of voting for the candidate on the ballot or writing in a candidate of their choice. Ward 1 Councilor Stanley Moulton is running for re-election to the two-year term as well as Ward 5 Councilor Alexander Jarrett, Ward 6 Councilor Marianne Labarge and Ward 7 Councilor Rachel Maiore.
Deborah Pastrich-Klemer is running for Ward 2 councilor, and this will be her first term if elected. Quaverly H. Rothenberg is also running for her first term in Ward 3 as well as Jeremy A. Dubs in Ward 4. Dubs uses a wheelchair and has a disability called Osteogenesis Imperfecta (OI). Dubs’ campaign slogan is “Reimagine the Wheel” and disability justice is one of the platforms he is running on.
In the Northampton School Committee election, voters will have their choice of three candidates: incumbent at-large committee members Gwen Agna and Aline Davis, as well as Ward 1 committee member Meg Robbins AC ’82 who was recently redistricted out of the Ward 1 seat.
The redistricting affected many of the Warded school committee seats. Holly Ghazey, current Ward 2 committee member, was redistricted and is running uncontested in Ward 1. Karen Foster Cannon is currently a Ward 2 city councilor running for the Ward 2 school Committee seat.
Emily Serafy-Cox runs uncontested for the Ward 3 school Committee seat.
Ann M. Hennessey, who had previously represented Ward 5 for three terms, decided not to run for re-election in 2019 and is now running again uncontested for the Ward 5 seat. Ward 6 Representative Margaret D. Miller is running again, uncontested, for the Ward 6 seat.
Graduate of Smith School of Social Work Kerry D. LaBounty is running uncontested for the Ward 7 school committee seat.
The only contested race for school committee member is in Ward 4, where Endamian Stewart is running against incumbent Michael Stein.
There are two open at-large seats for the Community Preservation Committee, which serves to make recommendations for how Community Preservation Act (CPA) funds are spent in the four CPA program areas: Community Housing, Historic Preservation, Open Space and Recreation. Emily “Lemy” Coffin, a graduate of the Smith School of Social Work who formerly ran for the Ward 1 city council seat, is running for this seat along with K. Christopher Hellman.
Three seats are open for Trustees Under the Will of Charles E. Forbes; elected members will work as Trustees of the Forbes Library. Kathleen “Katy” Wight is running for re-election to the Board and has held the seat since 2016. Newcomers Anne F. Teschner, Ruth Francis and Alexander George are also running to be on the Forbes Library Board.
Additionally, two candidates are running for one spot as Elector under the Oliver Smith Will, David Alan Murphy who is also running for at-large city councilor and Mary “Mimi” Odgers. The Elector under Oliver Smith’s Will is the representative to Smith Charities, which donates money to widows and trade apprentices, among others, following a wealthy Hatfield resident’s 1845 will. Murphy has held this seat since 2001 and in every election before 2021 his opponents have received nine votes or fewer. However, in 2021, Odgers won the seat with 57% of the vote. Murphy is running for the seat again this election cycle.
There are three open seats for Trustees of Smith Vocational and Agricultural High School, J. Spencer-Robinson, Richard D. Aquadro and Michael T. Cahillane are all incumbents and running for the open seats.
The Sophian has more in-depth articles on the city council at-large race as well as the school committee at-large race that readers can consider for more information.
