With election day next Tuesday, the mayor's race in Pittsfield is proving to be the most expensive of a half-dozen contests across western Massachusetts.
As of mid-October, Mayor Linda Tyer and challenger Melissa Mazzeo had combined to spend more than $89,000 so far this year. Each candidate had gone through about the same amount of just more than $44,000.
That’s according to the most recent campaign finance records filed with the state.
The total is nearly 40% more than Tyer and then-Mayor Dan Bianchi spent at a similar point during the last election. The combined total then was nearly $55,000.
In Springfield, the mayoral has cost almost $80,000, with incumbent Domenic Sarno accounting for nearly all the spending in the race against challenger Yolanda Cancel. Sarno had spent $75,290 to Cancel’s $3,484.
Meanwhile in Westfield, Michael McCabe and Don Humason spent more than $62,000 combined, with some of Humason's spending going towards his activities as a state senator.
As for Chicopee, John Vieau reported expenditures of $26,864. His opponent, Joe Morissette, went through $19,583.
In Greenfield, three candidates filed campaign finance reports for the most recent period. Roxann Wedegartner and Sheila Gilmour will appear on the ballot. Brickett Allis, who was third in the September preliminary, has continued on as a write-in candidate. Wedegartner spent $15,331, with Gilmour at $9,022 and Allis at $8,810.
And in North Adams, Mayor Tom Bernard, who is running for re-election for the first time, spent by far the least of all western Massachusetts incumbents facing opposition this fall -- $2,591. His challenger, Rachel Branch, spent $94.
Final campaign finance totals for each of these races will be available in early 2020, after candidates file their year-end reports.
