Last night we were treated to a preliminary election in Districts 3, 7 and 8 as well as the first council meeting in what feels like forever. These events provided evidence that both the electorate and some councilors don’t care for what they’ve been served lately. Let’s take a peek.

A Good Night for New Faces

On July 22, 2024 the City Council had a choice to either appoint someone to fill the District 3 seat (vacated by John Leahy) or attempt a “Home Rule” Petition that would permit the good folks in D3 to choose their own representative via a special election.

In a contentious 6-4 vote, the Council opted to appoint. Their choice (again 6-4 – with 4 abstaining) was Corey Belanger. Last night, the voters of District 3 made clear that they do not approve of what they were force-fed in July of 24. Councilor Belanger finished third of four, and will not be serving on the next council. Topping the ticket were Belinda Juran and Daniel Finn, who will advance to November:

The conventional wisdom leading up to the preliminary was that Belanger and Finn would be drawing from the same pool of voters. If this is true, Belanger outperformed Finn among these voters in three of the four precincts up for grabs:

However, Finn was able to run up the score up in Precinct 3, which is arguably “Juran Territory.”

The Lovvellians who did not support Juran in 3-3 favored Finn over Belanger by a margin of nearly 2-1.

In Districts 7 and 8, the incumbents survived – but by the skin of their teeth. In District 7, Councilor Yem finished a distant (relative term) second to Sidney Liang, and was a mere 21 votes away from being ousted by Jose Cervantes.

District 8 was, in this writer’s opinion, one of the biggest surprises of the night as Marcus Candido topped the ticket (marginally) over Councilor Descoteaux:

It was somewhat shocking to see Maldonado muster only 207 votes in a campaign that both “raised” and spent a shit-ton of money:

For context, Candido got his job done for under $1300:

If incumbents were in any way dismissive of their challengers, I’d be willing to bet that they are a little less so this morning. Give a little oxygen, and a spark can turn into an inferno.

The Council Meeting Was Everyone’s Second Choice

Compared to the breathless excitement of a preliminary in which dozens of people swarmed the polls, the council meeting fell a little flat. Manager Golden was not present, nor were Councilors Yem, Descoteaux, and Belanger, who reasoned that campaigning for a job takes priority over doing the job.

I’m tempted to skip it as well, as I don’t have much to add. However, it was somewhat notable that there was a Response pertaining to a motion (or several motions) asking the city’s law department to draft an ordinance that would require a certain percentage of workers on publicly-funded construction projects be comprised of Lowell residents. Rather than honor the will of the elected officials, the administration responded with a series of opinions that this move could face legal challenges rooted in violation of the U.S. Constitution.

Nevertheless, some Councilors – namely Councilors Robinson and Gitschier expressed frustration that they didn’t receive a draft of an ordinance that they could review and perhaps tailor to circumvent possible legal challenges. In the end, yet another motion passed whereby the Solicitor will present a draft of some ordinances that meet this objective.

This push/pull between administration and council objectives will be a space to watch in the coming months – particularly if the composition of the council changes in November.