Taunton preliminary election eliminates 2 city council candidates. Who got most votes?

Emma Rindlisbacher, The Taunton Daily Gazette, Sept. 24, 2025

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Two Taunton City Council candidates were eliminated and 18 will be advancing to the November general election, according to the unofficial results from Tuesday's preliminary election.

Voter turnout for Taunton's preliminary election on Tuesday, Sept. 23, was about 7%, with 3,191 ballots cast out of 43,991 registered voters. Voters were asked to select up to nine candidates for city council.

Two candidates — Edna Isaac and Jean "JP" Marcoux — are now out of the running for this year's city council election.

In the upcoming Nov. 4 general election, voters will ultimately elect nine taunton city councilors from the remaining field of 18 candidates. Voters will also elect a mayor, three TMLP commissioners, eight school committee members, seven planning board members, and five regular zoning board members plus two alternate zoning board members.

None of those other races had enough candidates to trigger a preliminary election. Taunton holds preliminary elections for a particular race when there are at least twice as many candidates as seats, plus one — so for mayor, for example, there would need to be at least three candidates to trigger a preliminary election, with the top two vote-getters moving on to the general election.

Here are the unofficial results from the Sept. 23 Taunton City Council preliminary election.

Which city council candidates got the most votes?

Here are the unofficial results from the Sept. 23 Taunton City Council preliminary election, with candidates ordered according to which candidates received the most votes. An (i) next to someone's name indicates they are an incumbent:

1. Phillip Duarte (i): 1,334 votes

2. Deborah Carr: 1,251 votes

3. Barry Sanders (i): 1,238 votes

4. John McCaul (i): 1,185 votes

5. David Pottier (i): 1,147 votes

6. Edward Correira: 1,141 votes

7. Colleen Simmons: 1,126 votes

8. Scott Martin (i): 1,048 votes

9. Rob Anderson: 1,039 votes

10. Bruce Thomas: 1,023 votes

11. David Chaves: 1,010 votes

12. Debra Botellio: 984 votes

13. Evan Francis: 924 votes

14. Brian Desilva: 826 votes

15. William "Bill" Fitzgerald: 676 votes

16. Thomas Pemberton: 655 votes

17. Phillip Gaspar: 622 votes

18. Robert Rooney: 557 votes

19. Edna Isaac: 477 votes

20. Jean "JP" Marcoux: 386 votes

The official results from the preliminary election will be released at a later date.

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

The terms "primary" and "preliminary" election sound similar and both are used to narrow the field of candidates prior to a general election, but they describe different types of elections. Primaries are within a political party, with voters choosing which candidate will represent that party in a general election.