NORTHAMPTON — City council and mayoral candidates running in preliminary elections next month will have a chance to defend and debate their stances on various issues during two candidate forums set to take place Monday and Tuesday at the Bombyx Center for Arts & Equity.
This year’s Northampton municipal election will see five different races requiring a preliminary election, an unprecedented phenomenon since at least the turn of the century. A preliminary election is triggered when more than twice the number of eligible candidates run for a specific seat.
The League of Women Voters of the Northampton Area are hosting the forums, which will feature all 19 preliminary candidates over the course of two days. Additional forums are planned to be held following the preliminary election on Sept. 16, when the final candidates for each seat will be determined.
The first forum on Monday will feature candidates for three different City Council seats: Ward 1, Ward 3 and Ward 5, with each ward having three candidates running.
For Ward 1, the candidates are Michele Ronco, Nikolas LeTendre-Cahillane and Gwenevra Nabad. Each is running for the seat currently occupied by Stanley Moulton, who is not seeking reelection.
Ward 3 candidates include Laurie Loisel and Ace Tayloe running against the incumbent, Quaverly Rothenberg, who is seeking a second term.
In Ward 5, the candidates are David Murphy, Luke Rotello and Aline Davis. Murphy is a former city councilor, while Davis currently serves as an at-large School Committee member. The three candidates seek to replace current Council President Alex Jarrett, who is not seeking reelection.
The forum on Tuesday will feature four candidates in the city’s mayoral election, along with six candidates for two at-large council seats.
Incumbent Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra is running for reelection, facing off against challengers Jillian Duclos, Dave Dombrowski and Dan Breindel.
For the at-large seats, the candidates are Deb Henson, Benjamin Spencer, Garrick Perry, Meg Robbins, William O’Dwyer and Yakov Kronrod. Perry is an incumbent, with the other current at-large councilor, Marissa Elkins, not seeking reelection.
The forums will be held from 6:30 to 9:15 p.m. on both days. Seating for both events have been sold out, but forums will be streamed live at northamptonopenmedia.org and on Comcast Community TV channel 12.
Also sponsoring the events are the Greater Northampton Chamber of Commerce and the Daily Hampshire Gazette.
