Dozens of Candidates Already Emerging in City Elections:Open Races Shaping up for Councilor and School Committee

Though there is still more than a month to go before nomination papers are due to the City Clerk’s office, on June 29, there are already dozens of candidates emerging in several city offices, including three incumbents and already four newcomers and two more familiar candidates challenging for the four At-large Council seats.

With State Representative Brendan Crighton the only incumbent At-Large Councilor not pulling nomination papers, this race could turn out to be either a wide open free for all, or a three to five-way race for the one open seat. It all depends on who returns their nominating papers.

The current list of potential candidates for At-Large Councilor includes current Council President Daniel Cahill, and his colleagues G. “Buzzy” Barton and Hong L. Net. They could potentially be joined on the ballot by current Ward 7 Councilor Richard J. Ford and current School Committee member Richard Starbard. Newcomers seeking a chance to join them on the ballot include Jose Alvarez of 221 Essex St., Brian P. LaPierre of 2 Rand St., Edwin Soto of 25 South St. #309, and Posan Ung of 80 Johnson St.

However, those are not the only races that are beginning to shape up.

Among the Ward Councilors incumbents Darren Cyr of Ward 3, Richard Collucci of Ward 4 and first term council woman Diane Chakoutis of Ward 5 already have potential challengers, while the Ward 7 seat being abandoned by Ford already has two potential candidates.

The challengers include Calvin Anderson of 12 Concord St. #3 challenging Cyr in Ward 3, Rick A. Borten of 32 Baltimore St. and Ariana Murrell-Rosario of 35 Baltimore St. seeking ballot positions against Collucci in Ward 4, and Hyppolite Marven-Rhode of 7 Liberty Sq. #12 challenging Chakoutis in Ward 5. Newcomers Brian M. Field of 9 Lois Lane and John Jay Walsh Jr. of 16 Raddin St. have pulled papers for what appears to be an open Ward 7 seat.

To this point, Ward 1 Councilor Wayne Lozzi, Ward 2 Councilor William Trahant and Ward 6 Councilor Peter Capano do not have challengers and all three incumbents have pulled their nominating papers.

On the School Committee four of the seven incumbents have already pulled papers for re-election including Patricia Capano, Maria O. Carrasco, Donna M. Coppola and John E. Ford Jr. Emerging challengers to that group include Lorraine Gately of 123 Edgemere Rd., Natasha S. Megie-Maddrey of 36 Beacon Hill Ave., Jared C. Nicholson of 13 Oneida St., and Michael Ouk of 45 Elm St.

As mentioned above, Rick Starbard is seeking election to an At-Large Council seat, leaving Charlie N. Gallo and Thomas Iarrobino apparently out or undecided so far.

Friday, June 26 is the last day to take out nomination papers in Lynn and Monday, June 29 is the last day to submit nomination papers for the fall Preliminary Election. Tuesday, July 28 is the last day for nomination papers to be certified for the ballot and Thursday, July 30 is the last day to withdraw nomination papers and remove a candidate from the Preliminary Election ballot.