NORTHAMPTON – A lifelong Northampton resident has announced her candidacy for the Ward 2 City Council seat.
Roberta “Robbie” Saner Sullivan, 51, of 83 Maynard Road, seeks to replace Ward 2 City Councilor Dennis Bidwell, who announced in February that he will not seek a third term on the council this fall. Sullivan is the first person not currently serving on the council to announce a bid for the council this year.
“I’m good at taking it all in and still making a decision that feels rational,” said Sullivan, on what she feels she will bring to the council.
Ward 7 City Councilor Alisa Klein also is not running for re-election, as is City Councilor At-Large Ryan O’Donnell, the council’s current president. Ward 4 City Councilor Gina-Louise Sciarra is leaving her Ward 4 seat to run for city councilor at-large.
Sullivan, 51, is a former Daily Hampshire Gazette copy editor and currently serves on the Charter Review Committee as the representative for Ward 2. A mother of three, her husband is Planning Board member Mark Sullivan, of D.A. Sullivan & Sons, Inc, a general contractor.
Sullivan’s last job was running her own business, Sullivan Companion Care, which provided home care services for the elderly. Last year, she chose to set that aside to care for her now 87-year-old mother on a full-time basis.
Previously, Sullivan said that she has been more focused on national issues, including working to get the Democratic Party to take back the U.S. House of Representatives in 2018 and going to Washington, D.C., to oppose the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court. She said she is still developing a campaign platform and jumped in the race early to begin talking with constituents.
Sullivan cited clean and sustainable energy, electoral reforms and representative democracy, distribution of wealth and opportunity, death with dignity, mental health, and access to health care as issued that are important to her. She also voiced support for education, including backing the upcoming city council resolutions endorsing the PROMISE and CHERISH acts before the Legislature. Additionally, Sullivan said that she is interested in exploring instant runoff voting and lowering the voting age to 16 in municipal elections, and she supports more civics education.
“I think it’s necessary,” she said.
Her bid for a council seat marks the first time Sullivan has run for elected office and she said she is up to the task.
“The idea of the time and the work doesn’t daunt me at all,” she said.
Bera Dunau can be reached at bdunau@gazetttenet.com.