Any hopes of a January “surprise” in Lowell’s Mayoral vote have been dashed as a pair of City Councilors, one who was vying for the position and the other supporting him, today pledged their support to Danny Rourke.

Vesna Nuon tells InsideLowell he is no longer seeking the Mayor’s gavel for the upcoming term and will instead vote for his council colleague. Two days after the election, we had reported that Rourke had secured enough support to reach the minimum six votes required to serve in the position. Nuon’s announcement today temporarily brought that number to seven.

“In the interest of building on the positive work the council is doing with the Administration and in continuing to work together as a unit, I am no longer pursuing the Office of Mayor in the upcoming term,” Nuon said. “We have a lot of issues we need to focus on as a group and the best way to achieve our goals is by working together.” 

Shortly after our discussion with Nuon, Councilor Wayne Jenness also pledged his support to Rourke. Jenness originally backed Nuon, as he had during the process in 2021, but echoed similar sentiments about “unity in the coming term” for why he is also opting to become the eighth Rourke vote.

With today’s developments, the only other known vote for Mayor belongs to Rita Mercier, who garnered the support of Corey Robinson. However, Mercier has not confirmed interest in serving in the position to InsideLowell and has remained silent on the matter when contacted.

Erik Gitschier has also not made his plans publicly known as of this time.