Who's running in this year's election?

A total of 16 candidates took out nomination papers on a busy first day at City Hall

Election season in Beverly is admittedly confusing this year. So we’ll start with what I hope is some clarity.

First, there are elections coming up very soon, on April 15 and May 13. Both of those — a primary and a final — are to pick a new state representative to replace Jerry Parisella, who is now a judge.

Then there are elections on Sept. 23 and Nov. 4. Those are the municipal elections to elect a mayor, City Council and School Committee.

Just to make it more confusing, we’re going to start with the September/November elections, because those are the ones that made news on Tuesday.

Tuesday was the first day that candidates for the municipal election could take out nomination papers at City Hall. And a whopping 16 people did just that, the most on Day 1 in recent memory, according to the City Clerk’s office.

Most of them were incumbents. But there are also four new candidates for city councilor at-large.

Here’s the breakdown of candidates by office. Keep in mind that people have until July 29 to take out nomination papers, so it’s still early.

Mayor

The matchup so far is longtime Mayor Mike Cahill vs. Brendan Sweeney, a current councilor-at-large. Sweeney announced his intention to run back in January and has already been campaigning. Cahill did not take out papers on Monday, but told me that he is definitely running and will formally kick off his campaign soon.

The winner will get a four-year term, an increase from the current two-year term that was approved by Beverly voters in 2023.

City Council

Six of the nine sitting councilors took out papers — Julie Flowers, an at-large councilor and the council president; and five ward councilors: Danielle Spang in Ward 2, Steven Crowley in Ward 3, Scott Houseman in Ward 4, Kathleen Feldman in Ward 5, and Matt St. Hilaire in Ward 6.

The three other incumbent councilors are Sweeney, Hannah Bowen and Todd Rotondo, and they’re all running for other offices — Sweeney, as we said, for mayor, and Bowen and Rotondo for state representative.

Four new candidates have already stepped up to run for one of the three-large seats — Kenann McKenzie-DeFranza, John Mullady, Kyle Retallack and Keith Sonia.

McKenzie-DeFranza is a current School Committee member while Mullady is a former School Committee member. Retallack is chairman of the Beverly Airport Commission, and Sonia is chairman of the Beverly Democratic City Committee.

Now what about Bowen and Rotondo. Would they run for reelection as councilors if they lose the state rep race?

Rotondo told me he was keeping that option open, while Bowen said she is thinking about nothing but the state rep race.

That brings us back to Retallack, who also took out papers for Ward 1 councilor in addition to at-large. Retallack told me it all depends on the outcome of the state rep race. If Rotondo wins, Retallack said he would run for the open Ward 1 seat. But if Bowen wins state rep, Retallack would run for at-large because he doesn’t want to challenge Rotondo in Ward 1.

School Committee

The first thing to know about the School Committee election is that the committee is expanding from seven members to nine members, another change that was approved by Beverly voters in 2023.

The two new seats are labeled District A and District B. District A covers wards 1, 2 and 3, while District B covers wards 4, 5 and 6.

Two incumbent School Committee members have taken out papers for those seats — Rachael Abell for District A and Lorinda Visnick for District B. Visnick is also listed as running for the Ward 6 seat, which she currently occupies. She told me she’s keeping her options open and is hoping that others express an interest in running.

Two other School Committee incumbents, Kimberley Coelho in Ward 3 and Kaarin Robinson in Ward 5, are running again. Ward 4 School Comittee member Jeffrey Silva told me he is not running for reelection. Lindsay Ducharme, who lost to Silva in 2021, has taken out papers in Ward 4.

As of Tuesday nobody had taken out papers for School Committee in Ward 1 (Abell’s current seat) or Ward 2 (McKenzie-DeFranza’s current seat).

The mayor, by the way, is also automatically a member of the School Committee.

Got it?

State representative

As for the state rep race, Bowen and Rotondo will meet in the Democratic primary on April 15. The winner will face Medley Long, a Republican, on May 13.

Here are some other key dates regarding the state rep election. This Saturday, April 5, at 5 p.m. is the last day to register to vote if you’re not already registered. Next Tuesday, April 8, is the last day to request a mail-in ballot.

There is no early in-person voting for the state rep race at City Hall. But you can go to the City Clerk’s office during regular business hours and absentee vote if you will not be in Beverly on election day.

The City Clerk’s Office has all the information on the elections here.