NORTHAMPTON — Marc Warner’s name will appear first on the ballot for mayor in the Nov. 2 general election, followed by his opponent, Gina-Louise Sciarra.
Warner and Sciarra won the Sept. 28 preliminary election, when voters eliminated three candidates for mayor and one for City Council at-large. A random drawing at City Hall on Monday determined the ballot order for November.
For City Council at-large, the ballot order is Marissa Elkins, Jamila Gore, Michael Quinlan and David Murphy. Voters will choose two candidates to fill two seats.
The League of Women Voters of Northampton Area and Daily Hampshire Gazette are co-sponsoring two virtual candidate forums on Tuesday, Oct. 19. The City Council at-large forum will run from 6 to 7:15 p.m., immediately followed by the mayoral forum from 7:30 to 8:45 p.m.
Pre-registration is required to attend the forums. The link to pre-register online will become available on Oct. 11.
Voters can submit questions for the forums at LWVNorthamptonArea.org/contact-us.
There are three City Council ward races in the general election: Wards 1, 3 and 4. In Ward 1, Emily “Lemy” Coffin will appear first on the ballot, followed by Stanley Moulton. In Ward 3, challenger David Kris will appear above incumbent Jim Nash, and in Ward 4, Garrick Perry will appear above Jesse Hassinger.
City councilors Karen Foster of Ward 2, Alex Jarrett of Ward 5, Marianne LaBarge of Ward 6 and Rachel Maiore of Ward 7 are running unopposed for reelection.
There are races for only two out of nine elected seats on the School Committee: Ward 2, where Remiel Baskin and Holly Ghazey are running, and Ward 6, where Edwin Burlingame is running against Margaret Miller.
Baskin told the Gazette that he would not seek the seat after Ghazey joined the race, but he has decided to keep running.
Only three of the nine elected School Committee members are running for reelection, all unopposed: Emily Serafy-Cox of Ward 3, Dina Levi of Ward 5 and Kaia Goleman of Ward 7.
Voters will pick two out of three candidates for Trustee Under the Will of Charles E. Forbes: Deborah Sue Bruce, incumbent Russell Carrier and Stanley Sherer. The trustees oversee Forbes Library, hiring and evaluating the director, monitoring the finances and approving changes to library policies.
There are six candidates for Trustee of Smith Vocational and Agricultural High School, which is Smith Voc’s separate school committee. Voters will choose three candidates. In ballot order, they are Richard Aquadro, incumbent Michael Cahillane, incumbent John Cotton, Julie Spencer-Robinson, incumbent Thomas FitzGerald and Thomas Pease.
The final race on the November ballot is Elector Under the Oliver Smith Will, for which incumbent David Murphy is seeking reelection while simultaneously running for an at-large City Council seat. Murphy’s opponent, Mary Odgers, will appear first on the ballot.
Ward 1 City Council candidate Stanley Moulton earned the endorsements of four former Ward 1 councilors on Monday — Maureen Carney, Judith Fine, Michael Kirby and outgoing at-large councilor Bill Dwight.
Carney, who served seven terms from 2005 to 2019, cited Moulton’s 42 years as a journalist at the Gazette and his service as chairman of the Charter Review Commission in 2019, while Dwight and Kirby pointed to Moulton’s knowledge of the city and his “progressive values.”
“I am incredibly proud to be supported by these four community leaders who collectively served for 30 years on the City Council,” Moulton said. “I look forward to continuing their record of excellent constituent service in my ward.”
Moulton is running against Emily “Lemy” Coffin for the seat that incumbent Ward 1 City Councilor Michael Quinlan is vacating to seek an at-large position.
Coffin has earned the endorsements of incumbent Ward 7 City Councilor Rachel Maiore, former Ward 7 councilor Alisa Klein and Dan Cannity, who served as co-chair of the Northampton Policing Review Commission.
“Lemy’s ability to integrate innovative policy from across the country into imagining possibilities for Northampton was consistently an asset for the commission,” Cannity said.
Coffin is planning a campaign event at Jackson Street School at the end of October. More details will be released in the coming days.
Ward 4 City Council candidates Garrick Perry and Jesse Hassinger are holding in-person events and canvassing ahead of the election.
Perry, manager of the music venue Bishop’s Lounge, plans to meet voters at the Funk Bash, an all-ages block party at the Northampton Center for the Arts, 33 Hawley St., on Saturday. Sponsored by Self Evident Education, a nonprofit promoting racial equity, the event starts with a 3 p.m. film screening followed by live music from 4:30 to 8:30 p.m.
Hassinger, co-owner of the Belly of the Beast restaurant, is hosting an outdoor meet-and-greet on Saturday at 10:30 a.m. at the 2 Fort Hill Terrace home of a friend.
“The focus of this is to provide a space for dialogue and information sharing,” Hassinger said, and “for people to have the opportunity to ask me anything.”
Brian Steele can be reached at bsteele@gazettenet.com.