Split Screen Format – 7

With one Lowell election down (sort of), the next one is playing out behind the scenes. And I’m not talking about the State Senate Special Election in early 2026.

First, this past Tuesday’s barn-burner in Belvidere and the question everyone is asking since election night; has Dan Finn filed for a recount?

The answer; not yet.

Contrary to other news reports, Finn tells InsideLowell he has not requested a recount. Other than that clarification, Finn has refused comment on his plans since our day-after election article where he acknowledged he’s “thinking it over.”

Meanwhile Belinda Juran, the candidate four votes ahead in the District 3 race when the unofficial results were released Tuesday night, has not returned requests for comment on the situation.

As of press time, it appears we’ll have to wait until next week for any public announcements, though we’ll keep working our sources in the mean time to see if there are any loose lips out there.

Speaking of going silent, a number of City Councilors and Councilors-elect were quick to respond to text messages offering congratulations on their election night victories, but not so quick to answer the immediate follow up; “who are you supporting for Mayor.”

What we have been able to glean is that only two candidates are making calls in an effort to arrange meetings; Vesna Nuon and Danny Rourke.

Rourke has made no secret of his desire to serve a second consecutive term, and he’s already secured support from three of his colleagues who answered our inquiries.

Rita Mercier, who it was believed was interested in the position after the 2023 election but never publicly threw her hat in the ring, told InsideLowell in October she was going to support Rourke because “he’s done a great job.” Contacted Wednesday morning about whether she was still in the current Mayor’s camp, the council’s longest serving member replied “yes.”

Sokhary Chau, who served as Mayor from 2022-2023, confirmed to us last night that he is also supporting Rourke. Ditto for John Descoteaux, who wrote “Danny has done a remarkable job as Mayor and in spearheading the Frontrunner City initiative. Having him continue in that role will establish continuity and build on the relationships he’s already created with the Urban Economy Forum, Frontrunner representatives and investors.”

Those three, along with Rourke himself, give the District 1 representative four of the six votes necessary to secure the Mayoral post.

Kim Scott, the District 5 councilor who supported Rourke last time around, has stayed silent to date, but it is widely believed she will also fall into the Rourke camp when she does speak.

As for Nuon, he has not publicly declared his desire to seek the position, but has been in the mix over the last several council terms. He has yet to secure the majority votes required to serve as Mayor in the past, and his path to six for 2026 isn’t clear at this point.

One person the veteran councilor can count on is newly elected District 7 Councilor Sidney Liang. When contacted via text Friday, Liang wrote “Since the election, no one has reached out to me regarding anything, including the Mayorship. I strongly believe in diversity, equity, and inclusion. If Councilor Vesna Nuon announces his candidacy for mayor and seeks my support, I will fully endorse him. He would be among the many great mayors who have come before him, all of whom worked hard to improve our city. I would urge fellow councilors to include him in the mayorship post.” 

With two votes he can count on, his own and Liang’s, Nuon needs to secure four of the remaining five who have yet to respond or commit; Erik Gitschier, Belinda Juran, Sean McDonough, Kim Scott and Corey Robinson. If Scott doesn’t surprise folks with a vote for someone other than Rourke, Nuon would then need all of the other councilors in his corner.

In 2023, Gitschier and Robinson voted for Rita Mercier, in a 9-2 vote where Mercier never publicly asked for votes and herself supported Rourke. Will they skate the same lane with Mercier in 2025, or will they veer off and support either Rourke or Nuon?

Lastly, where does newly elected District 4 Councilor Sean McDonough stand?

Multiple sources have told us McDonough is likely to support a second consecutive term for Rourke. One of those is former Mayor Bill Samaras, as part of a discussion on the topic during his regular Wednesday appearance on the Daily Pulse podcast.

When asked directly Friday, McDonough simply stated; “I am settling in to role and preparing to take office by meeting constituents and reading Robert’s Rules for the first time since college.”

Which takes us into the weekend with some level of uncertainty.

In the past, the selection of Mayor has sometimes been decided by the end of election night or within a day or two, even though public confirmations may have been hard to come by. Other times, the drama has spilled into Inauguration Day in January. The vast majority of the time, the process is decided somewhere in between, though the suspense usually ends about a week or two after the results have been tabulated, which this time might be complicated somewhat by Finn’s decision on whether to petition for a recount.

Either way, we’ll keep working our channels until decisions are made and publicly declared. After which we’ll turn our attention to the State Senate race for an election cycle that seems to be neverending.