North Andover Election: Bates, Nobile Ready To Work

NORTH ANDOVER, MA — North Andover's selectmen-elect told Patch Wednesday that they are looking forward to work on the board.

Engineer Laura Bates, who pitched her campaign as a political outsider who would bring a fresh voice to the Board, led all selectmen candidates with nearly one-third of the vote.

"I’m thrilled to have won," Bates said. "I couldn’t have done it without the support and encouragement of my family and friends. I am looking forward to working with the rest of the Board of Selectmen to learn and make decisions that will benefit our one community."

Chris Nobile, a mortgage banker and incumbent, ran 200 votes behind Bates with 30 percent of the vote, securing his re-election.

"Just so very thankful for the tremendous support across our North Andover," Nobile said. "Even during this pandemic people wanted to be counted in support of collaboration and commitment to advance North Andover for all our citizens."

Nobile, who faced challenges during the campaign regarding the Selectmen's vote to lease the town-owned Stevens Estate, argued his re-election — by a nearly two-to-one margin — validated his work and plans for the future.

"A real mandate for further fulfilling that promise including building the new Senior Center, creating the recreational complex and getting the Amazon fulfillment center project done," Nobile said. "Our next step is to safe conduct the Town Meeting on June 16. Looking forward to seeing so my fellow citizens then again!"

Election Results

Unofficial results. Winners printed in bold type. Candidates for re-election are marked with an asterisk (*). Percentages may not add up to exactly 100 due to rounding.

Total votes have shifted slightly due to hand-counted ballots added since Tuesday

Board of Selectmen (2 seats)

School committee (2 seats)

Christopher Huffaker can be reached at 412-265-8353 or chris.huffaker@patch.com.