4 incumbent Taunton city councilors not running for re-election. Who is and isn't running?
There will also be some new faces on the City Council, School Committee and Planning Board next year — with four incumbent city councilors, one incumbent School Committee member and one incumbent Planning Board member not seeking re-election.
On the City Council, incumbents Chris Coute, Larry Quintal, Jeffrey Postell and Estele Borges are not running for re-election. Borges is instead making a run for mayor. On the School Committee, incumbent Gill Enos is not running for re-election, but is instead running for TMLP. On the Planning Board, incumbent William 'Bill' Fitzgerald is not running for re-election but is instead running for City Council.
In all, 20 candidates turned in papers to run for City Council; seven candidates for the TMLP Commission; sixteen candidates for School Committee; eleven candidates for the Planning Board; eleven candidates for Zoning Board of Appeals; and three candidates for mayor.
A city-wide election for those six offices and boards will be held on Tuesday, Nov. 4. However, the volume of candidates who have turned in nomination papers means that the city will likely hold a preliminary election to narrow the field of candidates in some races on Tuesday, Sept. 23.
Here's whose running for local office in Taunton in 2025.
City could see up to three preliminary elections
In Taunton municipal elections, which are non-partisan, if the number of candidates for an office is at least twice the number of open seats, plus one, the city holds a preliminary election to narrow the field. That means there will be prelinary elections for mayor, TMLP and City Council if all the candidates who turned in nomination papers make it onto the ballot.
Taunton Elections Director Mark Pacheco said that it is too early to say for sure whether there are enough candidates to require a preliminary election. He said that even though the deadline to turn in nomination papers was Tuesday, Aug. 5, it is possible that some candidates who turned in nomination papers may not appear on the ballot.
Pacheco said that candidates have until Aug. 21 to withdraw from the election should they wish to withdraw. Pacheco also said that his office had not yet finished verifying the signatures of voters that candidates are required to provide when turning in their nomination papers. (In Taunton, to appear on the ballot candidates must provide 25 signatures from voters). In addition, in one instance the residency of a candidate running for mayor, Rudy Alves, has been challenged, and it is possible he may be deemed ineligible to run for office.
"Nothing is set in stone yet," Pacheco said.
According to data from the Taunton Elections Department, the following candidates have turned in nomination papers to run for office in Taunton.
Who's running for mayor?
Rude 'Rudy' Alves
Estele Borges, current city councilor
Shaunna O'Connell, current mayor
Who's running for City Council?
Twenty candidates turned in nomiation papers to run for the nine-member City Council:
Robert Anderson Jr.
Debra Botellio
Deborah Carr
David Chaves
Edward Correira
Brian Desilva
Phillip Duarte, current city councilor
William 'Bill' Fitzgerald, current Planning Board member
Evan Francis
Phillip Gaspar
Edna Isaac
Jean P. Marcoux Jr.
School Martin, current city councilor
John McCaul, current city councilor
Thomas Pemberton
David Pottier, current city councilor
Robert Rooney
Barry Sanders, current city councilor
Colleen Simmons
Bruce Thomas
Who's running for School Committee?
Sixteen candidates turned in nomination papers to run for the School Committee, which has eight members plus the mayor, who serves by virtue of her office:
Dennis Ackerman, current Zoning Board of Appeals member and current Planning Board member
Victoria Barreiro
Heather Baylies-Grigoreas
Donna Chaves, current School Committee member
Gregory DeMelo, current School Committee member and current TMLP commissioner
Christine Fagan, current School Committee member
John Joyce, current Zoning Board of Appeals member
Tanya Lobo
Louis Loura, current School Committee member
George Moniz Jr., current Planning Board member and current Zoning Board of Appeals member
Tyler Mosher
Kerrie Mullen
Nathan Pawlowski, current School Committee member
Alison Rosa
Melissa Santos, current School Committee member
Steven Vieira, current School Committee member and current Zoning Board of Appeals member
Who's running for Zoning Board of Appeals?
Eleven candidates have turned in papers to run for the five regular seats and two alternate seats on the Zoning Board of Appeals:
Dennis Ackerman, current Zoning Board of Appeals member and current Planning Board member
Edward Correira
John Coutinho
John Doherty, current alternate member of the Zoning Board of Appeals
Craig Faria, current Zoning Board of Appeals member
John Joyce, current Zoning Board of Appeals member
John Lopes
George Moniz Jr., current Planning Board member and current Zoning Board of Appeals member
Peter Thomas
Seth Turner, current alternate member of the Zoning Board of Appeals
Steven Viera, current School Committee member and current Zoning Board of Appeals member
Who's running for Planning Board?
Eleven candidates have turned in papers to run for the seven-member Planning Board:
Anthony Abreau, current Planning Board member
Dennis Ackerman, current Planning Board member
Brian Carr, current Planning Board member
John Coutinho
Jordan Fiore
Jean P. Marcoux Jr.
George Moniz Jr., current Planning Board member and current Zoning Board of Appeals member
Thomas Pemberton
John Reardon, current Planning Board member
Scott Rodrigues, current Planning Board member
Peter Thomas
Who's running for TMLP?
Seven candidates have turned in papers to run for the three seats on the TMLP Commission:
Barry Amaral
Peter Corr, current TMLP commissioner
John Coutinho
Gregory DeMelo, current School Committee member and current TMLP commissioner
Gill Enos, current School Committee member
Timothy Hebert
William Strojny, current TMLP commissioner
What's the difference between a preliminary and primary?
The terms "primary" and "preliminary" election sound similar but describe different types of elections. Primaries are within a political party, with voters choosing which candidate will represent that party in a general election.
"Preliminary" elections, on the other hand, refer to non-partisan elections held to winnow down the number of candidates going into general elections. Taunton has non-partisan elections, which means it holds preliminary elections when the number of candidates meets the minimum threshold.
Taunton Elections Department Director Mark Pacheco said the standard formula for triggering a preliminary election is when the number of candidates is at least double the number of seats, plus one — so for a nine-member board, for example, there would need to be 19 candidates to trigger a preliminary election, and just one candidate would be eliminated in the preliminary in that case, with 18 moving on to the general election in November.
With reporting by Dan Schemer
This article originally appeared on The Taunton Daily Gazette: Taunton election 2025 — who is and isn't running for City Council
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