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Taunton City Council preliminary election is Sept 23. Why no preliminary for other races?

Updated: Sep 26

The September preliminary election will reduce the number of candidates for City Council from 20 to 18 prior to the November 4, 2025 election.


Emma Rindlisbacher, The Taunton Daily Gazette, September 5, 2025


Taunton will be holding a preliminary election on Sept. 23 for City Council. The September preliminary election will reduce the number of candidates for City Council from 20 to 18 prior to the Nov. 4 general election.


The City Council race will be the only election that will have a preliminary election. Earlier, the mayor's and TMLP Commission races were also on track to have a preliminary election, but neither race ended up with enough candidates to trigger a preliminary — after a mayoral candidate was disqualified and a TMLP candidate withdrew.


Multiple elected boards will see new faces following the November elections, due to multiple incumbent candidates deciding not to run for reelection.


Ballots finalized following deadline to withdraw

The deadline for candidates to withdraw from the upcoming elections was Aug. 19.

Incumbent School Committee member Gill Enos, who turned in nomination papers to run for the TMLP commission, ultimately withdrew from the TMLP race and will not appear on the ballot.


A second candidate who was running for mayor, Rude "Rudy" Alves, was found to be ineligible by the Taunton Elections Commission and will not appear on the ballot.

With the exception of Enos and Alves, the other candidates who turned in nomination papers will appear on the ballot.


Which incumbents are not running for re-election?

On the City Council, incumbents Chris Coute, Larry Quintal, Jeffrey Postell and Estele Borges are not running for re-election. Borges is instead making a run for mayor. 


On the School Committee, Enos is the only incumbent not running for re-election.

On the Planning Board, incumbent William “Bill” Fitzgerald is not running for re-election but is instead running for City Council.


Who's running for mayor?

Two candidates are running for mayor.

  1. Estele Borges, current city councilor

  2. Shaunna O’Connell, current mayor


Who's running for City Council?

Twenty candidates are running for nine positions on the Taunton City Council.

  1. Robert Anderson Jr.

  2. Debra Botellio

  3. Deborah Carr

  4. David Chaves

  5. Edward Correira

  6. Brian Desilva

  7. Phillip Duarte, current city councilor

  8. William “Bill” Fitzgerald, current Planning Board member

  9. Evan Francis

  10. Phillip Gaspar

  11. Edna Isaac

  12. Jean P. Marcoux Jr.

  13. Scott Martin, current city councilor

  14. John McCaul, current city councilor

  15. Thomas Pemberton

  16. David Pottier, current city councilor

  17. Robert Rooney

  18. Barry Sanders, current city councilor

  19. Colleen Simmons

Bruce Thomas


Who's running for School Committee?

Sixteen candidates are running for school committee. The school committee has eight members, plus the mayor, who serves by virtue of her office.

  1. Dennis Ackerman, current Zoning Board of Appeals member and current Planning Board member

  2. Victoria Barreiro

  3. Heather Baylies-Grigoreas

  4. Donna Chaves, current School Committee member

  5. Gregory DeMelo, current School Committee member and current TMLP commissioner

  6. Christine Fagan, current School Committee member

  7. John Joyce, current Zoning Board of Appeals member

  8. Tanya Lobo

  9. Louis Loura, current School Committee member

  10. George Moniz Jr., current Planning Board member and current Zoning Board of Appeals member

  11. Tyler Mosher

  12. Kerrie Mullen

  13. Nathan Pawlowski, current School Committee member

  14. Alison Rosa

  15. Melissa Santos, current School Committee member

Steven Vieira, current School Committee member and current Zoning Board of Appeals member


Who's running for Zoning Board of Appeals?

Eleven candidates are running for five regular seats and two alternate seats on the Zoning Board of Appeals.

  1. Dennis Ackerman, current Zoning Board of Appeals member and current Planning Board member

  2. Edward Correira

  3. John Coutinho

  4. John Doherty, current alternate member of the Zoning Board of Appeals

  5. Craig Faria, current Zoning Board of Appeals member

  6. John Joyce, current Zoning Board of Appeals member

  7. John Lopes

  8. George Moniz Jr., current Planning Board member and current Zoning Board of Appeals member

  9. Peter Thomas

  10. Seth Turner, current alternate member of the Zoning Board of Appeals

  11. Steven Viera, current School Committee member and current Zoning Board of Appeals member


Who's running for Planning Board?

Eleven candidates are running for the seven-member Planning Board.

  1. Anthony Abreau, current Planning Board member

  2. Dennis Ackerman, current Planning Board member

  3. Brian Carr, current Planning Board member

  4. John Coutinho

  5. Jordan Fiore

  6. Jean P. Marcoux Jr.

  7. George Moniz Jr., current Planning Board member and current Zoning Board of Appeals member

  8. Thomas Pemberton

  9. John Reardon, current Planning Board member

  10. Scott Rodrigues, current Planning Board member

  11. Peter Thomas


Who's running for TMLP Commission

Six candidates are running for three seats on the TMLP Commission.

  1. Barry Amaral

  2. Peter Corr, current TMLP commissioner

  3. John Coutinho

  4. Gregory DeMelo, current School Committee member and current TMLP commissioner

  5. Timothy Hebert

  6. William Strojny, current TMLP commissioner


What's the difference between a preliminary and primary election?

The terms "primary" and "preliminary" election sound similar but describe different types of elections. Primaries are within a political party, with voters choosing which candidate will represent that party in a general election.


"Preliminary" elections, on the other hand, refer to non-partisan elections held to winnow down the number of candidates going into general elections. Taunton has non-partisan elections, which means it holds preliminary elections when the number of candidates meets the minimum threshold.


Taunton Elections Department Director Mark Pacheco said the standard formula for triggering a preliminary election is when the number of candidates is at least double the number of seats, plus one — so for a nine-member board, for example, there would need to be 19 candidates to trigger a preliminary election, and just one candidate would be eliminated in the preliminary in that case, with 18 moving on to the general election in November. 




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