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With early voting underway, residents of Worcester are deciding who will represent them on the city council, school committee and as mayor. The general election takes place on Nov. 4 but early voting began on Oct. 25 and is set to end on Oct. 31, according to the city’s website. The election will decide the fate of policies brought before the city council, such as a soon-to-be-released report from City Manager Eric D. Batista about the creation of a police civilian oversight committee. Voters will also decide if they approve the idea of the city forcing colleges to invest some of their endowments. Mayor Incumbent Mayor Joseph Petty is running for re-election to seek an eighth term as mayor. During the campaign, Petty has defended his tenure as mayor. If re-elected, he pledges to complete the re-construction of Burncoat High School and touted a proposal from him and District 2 Councilor Candy Mero-Carlson that would give landlords a tax break if they kept rents low for residents. During a debate hosted by GBH, Petty proposed a meeting between him and the leaders of other Central Massachusetts towns to address homelessness, saying that the rising homeless population in the city is not made up of residents who permanently live there. Petty has also expressed skepticism over the creation of a police civilian oversight board, saying that he would look at the city manager’s report before making a decision. Petty’s rivals, City Council Vice Chair and Councilor-at-Large Khrystian King and real estate agent Owura-Kwaku Sarkodieh both said they support a police oversight board. King, who ran against Petty in 2023 but lost, told MassLive he would vote for its approval if brought before the city council. Both King and Sarkodieh are also open to the idea of rent control to keep rents affordable in Worcester. Sarkodieh also called for the repurposing of vacant apartments for the construction of affordable housing during the GBH debate. Per the city’s charter, the councilor-at-large candidates are listed twice on the ballot: once as an option for councilor-at-large and once as an option for mayor. The top six vote earners in November’s election will be elected to serve as councilors at large. To become Worcester’s mayor, however, a candidate needs to win a councilor-at-large seat and earn the most votes for the office of mayor, according to the charter. Councilor-at-large candidates are automatically listed as candidates for mayor but they do have the option to opt out of the mayoral race and only run as a councilor, according to the city charter. City Councilor-at-Large There are 12 candidates running for Councilor-at-Large, including Petty, King and Sarkodieh. Incumbent Councilors-at-Large Kathleen Toomey, Morris Bergman and Donna Colorio are all running for re-election. Councilor-at-Large Thu Nguyen, who is also an incumbent, is not running for re-election. Nguyen stopped attending council meetings after they accused District 2 Councilor Candy Mero-Carlson of calling them a slur. During the preliminary election in September, Toomey earned the second highest vote total, placing behind Petty. Toomey told MassLive one of her priorities is the construction of more market-rate and affordable housing in Worcester. She also thinks that a new East Middle School should be built in the area of Route 20 and hopes the school will be built next after the construction of a new Burncoat High School. “We need to continue to educate and inform our residents about opportunities to help Worcester grow, and also, to continue to provide a safe and healthy community for all,” Toomey said. Toomey has also expressed skepticism over creating a police oversight board, telling MassLive she sees no reason to create one. Bergman received the third-highest vote total during the preliminary. His approach to keeping homes affordable is to keep property taxes as low as possible, according to his website. The website describes Bergman as having “a moderate approach toward new problems.“ The candidate with the fourth highest vote total was former City Councilor Gary Rosen followed by King. Jermoh Kamara, the president of the Massachusetts Organization of African Descendants, came in sixth place. Kamara’s website says she supports rent stabilization programs, affordable dwelling unit construction and keeping the Worcester Regional Transportation Authority bus service fare free. Behind Kamara was incumbent councilor Colorio in seventh place while Satya Mitra, the founder ofThe Guru Tax and Financial Services, finished in eighth place. In a previous interview with MassLive, Mitra said he would want to take an analytical look at development projects in Worcester to ensure the city collects enough revenue from them. Mitra mentioned that some projects near the Polar Park stadium have not been completed and that the city has had difficulty collecting revenue. Placing in ninth place was Cayden Davis, who supports rent stabilization, supporting overdose prevention centers and keeping the bus service free, according to Davis’s website. Sarkodieh placed 10th and Jessica Pepple placed 11th. On her website, Pepple says she supports a civilian review board and rent stabilization. The 12th place candidate was Edson Montero. District Councilors District 1 Councilor Jenny Pacillo and District 3 Councilor George Russell are not seeking re-election this year, meaning their seats will be represented by a new councilor. In District 1, resident Keith Linhares is running against former City Councilor Tony Economou. Linhares has called for rent stabilization, a police oversight board and supports the prohibition of police cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Economou, meanwhile, told MassLive in a previous interview he wants to focus on fixing infrastructure in District 1 and did not say whether he supports an oversight board. In District 3, former State Rep. John Fresolo and former Worcester Public School safety director Robert Pezzella are running for Russell’s seat. Both candidates’s pages tout a campaign focused on keeping property taxes low and supporting public safety in the city District 2 and District 5 feature rematch races between the incumbents and the challengers. In District 2, Councilor Candy Mero-Carlson will face off against challenger Robert Bilotta. Mero-Carlson says she supports funding public safety departments, keeping the busses fare free and building more developments in the canal district. Bilotta, meanwhile, supports rent stabilization, keeping the bus services free and increased investment in vocational technical programs. In District 5, Councilor Etel Haxhiaj will face off against challenger Jose Rivera. Haxhiaj drew attention by confronting Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents during the arrest of a Worcester resident on Eureka Street in May. She is facing charges as a result of that encounter, and has called them “bogus charges.” Haxhiaj previously told MassLive she supports the creation of a police oversight board and has spoken in favor of designating Worcester as a sanctuary city for transgender people. Rivera’s website states that he will be against defunding the police and called for more housing to address homelessness in Worcester. In District 4, Councilor Luis Ojeda will face off against challenger Ted Kostas. School Committee School Committee incumbents in Districts A, B, D and F are running unopposed this year, including Vanessa Z. Alvarez for District B, Alejandro Guardiola for District D and Jermaine L. Johnson for District F. District A incumbent Molly O. McCullough was supposed to face off against challenger Ashley R. Spring. But the city’s board of elections ruled them ineligible to be on the ballot because they do not meet the city’s residency requirement. The two incumbent School Committee Members-at-Large, Maureen F. Binienda and Susan M. Mailman, have both qualified for the November ballot along with challenger Adwoa A. Sakyi-Lamptey. The two candidates who receive the first and second most votes in the election will be awarded the at-large seats. District C incumbent Dianna Biancheria will run against Feanna S. Jattan-Singh. District E incumbent Kathleen Roy will face off against challenger Nelly Medina. Ballot question Finally, voters will decide if they approve the idea of the city forcing colleges to invest some of their endowments. On April 15, the city council unanimously approved a ballot question asking residents if they support forcing private higher education institutions in the city to invest 0.5% of their endowments into a city fund designated to help “finance needed housing, economic, and community development projects.” The proposal was brought forward by Worcester Mayor Petty and District 2 Councilor Mero-Carlson. The proposal was brought forward after Worcester Polytechnic Institute announced it would convert two hotels into student housing, a move that angered city and business leaders. Following the approval of the question, the presidents of Clark University, The Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, College of the Holy Cross, Assumption University and Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) wrote a letter to the council saying the resolution question could cause substantial harm to the institutions. “Especially given our institutions’ long-standing engagement in and support for Worcester, we are surprised and disheartened by the seemingly short-sighted nature of the council’s actions that selectively target certain institutions — even those that are already contributing through existing payment in lieu of taxes (PILOT) agreements," the letter reads. “Furthermore, the introduction of a non-binding resolution is not only unnecessary but potentially a roadblock to ongoing discussions with city leaders about further strengthening our partnerships.”
