After Dogged Campaign, Perlman Is Marlborough's Biggest Winner

MARLBOROUGH, MA — At one door Samantha Perlman knocked on in Marlborough, the person told her that a candidate hadn't stopped by in 25 years. It was moments like that, Perlman says, that catapulted her to the most notable win in Marlborough in 2019.

The 24-year-old earned 3,331 votes in the at-large race, the most of any Marlborough City Council candidate, and almost as many as four-term Mayor Arthur Vigeant. Mark Oram was the second-highest Council vote-getter with 2,663. Perlman also unseated Councilor Peter Juaire, who was elected most recently in 2015, but who was elected to three terms before 2010. She also became the youngest women ever elected to office in Marlborough.

She won with a lot of shoe-leather work. Perlman has campaigned every weekend since July, and when she got home from her day-job as the civic engagement manager at the nonprofit Scholars Strategy Network.

"The people I talked to, they felt heard. That was something that was important to me," she said on Wednesday. Perlman estimates she knocked on about 2,000 doors, not counting homes she returned to multiple times if no one was home.

Perlman grew up in Marlborough and decided to run for the City Council because she thought it lacked diversity. But she wasn't necessarily trying to oust someone like Juaire — in fact, she saw him at City Hall when the results dropped on Election Night.

"He was very kind and very supportive," she said. "He welcomed me with open arms."

She has experience working for politicians and chairs the Cultural Council, but Perlman really learned how to campaign with the group Emerge Massachusetts, which trains Democratic women to run for office. Perlman trained in last year's Emerge class with Julia Mejia, a first-time candidate who appears to have won a Boston City Council seat, and Ayesha Wilson, who won a seat on the Cambridge School Committee. Emerge alumni include Framingham Mayor Yvonne Spicer and Boston Councilor Michelle Wu, who may challenge Marty Walsh for mayor in 2020.

Perlman hopes her election will be an inspiration to other young women. During her campaign, she had help from high-school age girls, and they cheered her on at the polls on Tuesday. There will now be three women on the City Council — At-Large Councilor Kathleen Robey was reelected, and Laura Wagner was elected to replace retiring District 1 Councilor Joseph Delano.

Perlman heard about a range of issues on the campaign trail. The west side fire station, downtown revitalization, climate change, and a dog park all came up. She's also prioritizing better transit (including for bikes) to the Southborough MBTA station. But her taking the time to just listen to residents pushed her over the finish line, she said.

"I fell in love with Marlborough over and over with every resident I met," she said.