Framingham Elections: Who Got Nomination Papers Certified?

FRAMINGHAM, MA — While the deadline to pull nomination papers is around the corner, most candidates who pulled papers early already have their signatures in and their papers certified. Framingham's 2020 elections already have several contested races forming, most notably in the City Council. There are 11 City Council seats up for grabs.

Half of the sitting councilors have announced they will not seek re-election ahead of the city's November elections. So far, 23 people have pulled nomination papers to run for City Council. As of July 26, 16 people returned and had their signatures certified. Almost every district has a contested race for City Council.

There are four people vying for two of the At-Large councilor seats, three of which returned and certified their nomination papers. Current At-Large councilor George King will defend his seat against newcomers Janet Leombruno and Gloria Pascual. Cheryl Tully Stoll is not seeking re-election. Leombruno was the first to return her papers, bringing them back to the city clerk just a week after pulling them. Gloria Pascual is attempting to switch gears from School Committee member to City Councilor — she returned her papers in late July with 549 signatures, exceeding the requirement of at least ten signatures from registered voters in each of the city’s nine districts. Samuel Mercurio Jr. pulled nomination papers in May but has not returned them yet.

In District 1 Charles Sistsky bowed out of the election and three newcomers will battle for his seat. Joseph Norton, Christine Long and Gerald Bloomfield all pulled nomination papers. Bloomfield is the only one who has not returned his papers — both Norton and Long's papers were certified.

Pam Richardson is another councilor bowing out of the election, leaving the District 2 seat up to three contenders. Ricky Finlay is also trying to make the switch from School Committee to City Council and returned his nominations papers the day after he pulled them and had them certified. Cesar Stewart-Morales also pulled papers and had them returned and certified within the month he pulled them. The only other candidate for District 2 so far, Michael Joseph Fritz, has not returned his nomination papers yet.

So far, only one person pulled and returned nomination papers for District 3: sitting councilor Adam Steiner. The same is the case for District 4 where councilor Michael Cannon is the only one so far who has pulled and returned nomination papers. The papers were certified in both cases.

City Council chair and District 5 councilor Dennis Giombetti is not seeking re-election, leaving his seat up to three contenders: School Committee member Noval Alexander, Robert Case and Cheryl Gordon. All three have returned and certified their nomination papers.

District 6 councilor Michael Rossi also bowed out of the election and so far only Philip Ottaviani has pulled and returned nomination papers.

District 7 councilor Margareth Basilio Shepard will defend her seat against William Patrick Lynch — both had returned and certified nomination papers.

Judith Grove's seat in District 8 is up for grabs after she announced she will not seek re-election and so far the only person to return and certify their nomination papers was John Stefanini. Mario Alvarez pulled papers but has not yet returned them.

Three people are vying for Edgardo Torres' seat as District 9 councilor but no one has returned nomination papers. School Committee member Tracey Bryant, Neidy L. Cuellar and James Albert Doucette III all pulled papers.

Election day may be months away but deadlines and important dates are coming up throughout the spring and summer. Here ware some you should keep track of:

• July 30: Last day and hour to file nomination papers with the Registrars of Voters.
• August 13: Last day and hour for Registrars to file certified nomination papers with the City Clerk.
• August 15: Last day and hour of objections to and/or withdrawal of nomination papers
• August 28: 8:00 P.M. Voter registration deadline for the City Preliminary.
• September 9: Pre-Preliminary Campaign Finance Reports due: Candidates for City Office must file reports covering date last filed through September 7, 2019
• September 17: City Preliminary Election
• October 16: 8:00 P.M. Voter registration deadline for City Election
• November 5: City Election