Western Mass. mayoral showdowns: Incumbents face fresh challenges

Several western Massachusetts communities are holding mayoral elections on Tuesday, November 4th. What defines these races? Is it the candidate? Taking us for a quick spin through the candidates is NEPM's Adam Frenier.

Carrie Healy, NEPM: In Easthampton, there's a three way race underway among candidates vying to lead that city. Their interim mayor Salem Derby, City Councilor Jason Tirrell and executive assistant Lindsey Sekula. Adam, how does each of these candidates plan to lead Easthampton and tackle its biggest challenges?

Adam Frenier, NEPM: Well, that's a good question, Carrie. You have three candidates here that all have name recognition in Easthampton. Salem Derby has been a longtime city councilor. He became the interim mayor when Nicole LaChapelle left before her term expired to become the Department of Conservation and Recreation Commissioner for the state. And he's joined by another city councilor, Jason Tirrell, who goes by 'JT' and LaChapelle's mayoral aide Lindsay Sekula.

There's a lot of similarities here. You know, all three have been actively fundraising. All three are recognized names in the Easthampton community.

They've talked a lot about their varied experiences in municipal government. Housing and budgeting and education have all emerged as important topics. So, it's going to be interesting to see how these three really do distinguish themselves from each other as we get ready for that race in Easthampton.

Moving on to Northampton, incumbent Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra is facing challenger Jillian Duclos. What key issues are distinguishing Sciarra and Duclos in this race?

Well, Sciarra is using her experience first as a city councilor and then as a one-term mayor to try to bolster her case to voters. And Duclos says she wants to focus more on meat and potatoes issues and things like fixing infrastructure and sidewalks.

School funding has been a big issue here. Sciarra's been touting the fact that she's been able to grow the school budget, but there's been a lot of discord in Northampton about how the schools have been funded. Many, including Duclos, feel like there should be more money available for the schools.

Another big issue is the Picture Main Street project, which is this big downtown redesign that's being proposed, and many people are against it. Shearer says it's essential to making sure that Northampton remains viable.

So, some hot button issues. Sciarra had 47% of the vote in a four way preliminary, which is a strong showing back in September. Duclos does have a path forward, if you take away the votes that the two candidates who didn't make the election in November, what they garnered in that preliminary. But it looks like a pretty skinny path for Duclos if she's to pull off the upset.

West Springfield Mayor Will Reichelt, a decade-long incumbent, is being challenged by at large town Councilor Daniel O'Brien. Adam, what fresh ideas is O'Brien bringing to West Springfield that challenges Reichelt's record?

Well, one thing O'Brien's been touting is his self-proclaimed fiscal conservatism, and that's one thing he wants to do. He wants to rein in spending.

He actually wants to return West Springfield to a two-year mayoral term. A few years ago, they changed it to a four-year term. He thinks that would bring some more accountability to that corner office. And, you know, he's been going after Reichelt as far as government spending goes in West Springfield and it's been running on his record. He has a ten-year record.

And one other interesting thing in this race is in terms of fundraising, O'Brien hasn't filed any documentation at all with the Office of Campaign and Political Finance, but Mayor Reichelt, in his campaign account as of the end of September, had $236,000, which for a mayor in any part of Massachusetts, let alone western Massachusetts, is just a huge sum.

Yeah, it is. Moving over to Westfield, residents there will see incumbent Michael McCabe and Andrew Mullen on the ballot. So how do voters decide between McCabe's experience and Mullen's promise of change?

Well, Mullen ran unsuccessfully in 2019, and this has been kind of a sleepy race. I was driving through Westfield the other day and McCabe had some signs out, and I didn't see one for Mullen. McCabe has been again running on some of the things that he's been able to do.

This is a two-year term in Westfield as well, and Mullen's been a little bit quiet. You know, he ran for mayor in 2019. There hasn't been a whole lot of buzz in this race. And it'll be very interesting to see if Mullen is able to make any inroads toward what appears to be a strong incumbent in McCabe.

Our lightning round is almost over! In North Adams. Adam, incumbent Jennifer Macksey is seeking a third term against challenger Scott Berglund. Where do Macksey's experience and Berglund's new perspective clash on key city priorities?

Well, Macksey’s been running on her record again. This is a two-year term in North Adams. Macksey says she's been able to bring in $44 million worth of state grants, and has been touting other fiscal accomplishments. Berglund has a career in sales, and he says infrastructure needs to be improved, as does transparency in city operations. There's been a lot of debate about that.

Macksey’s outraised Berglund by about a 3 to 1 margin as of the end of September, and Berglund, being a political newcomer, may be up against it a little bit against Macksey.

But North Adams is the second largest community in the Berkshires. It's a very active political community, and it'll be very interesting to see how all this turns out there.