Peabody Candidates Turn Toward November After Preliminary Election

PEABODY, MA — The November general election ballot is set in Peabody with small business owner Rochelle Agneta set to challenge incumbent Mayor Ted Bettencourt and City Council contested races in Ward 2, Ward 6 and for the five At-Large seats.

Bettencourt won a three-person race to narrow the field to two by a wide margin in a primary Tuesday in which 2,589 ballots were cast in the citywide mayor's race and 988 ballots were cast in the Ward 6 City Council race where there were also three candidates for two spots on the general election ballot.

Bettencourt earned 2,091 votes on Tuesday (about 81 percent), with Agneta in second at 373 votes (about 15) percent and radio professional Rob Stevens at 100 votes (4 percent).

"Thank you to everyone who came out to vote," Agneta posted on her campaign page Wednesday morning. "I have a long road ahead of me in the next six weeks, but knowing I have such great support from my community makes it a much easier road to travel."

(Also on Patch: Peabody Preliminary Election: Agneta, Bettencourt To Vie For Mayor)

Michael Higgins was the top vote-getter in the Ward 6 primary with 494 votes, with Ryan Cox earning the second spot on the November ballot with 315 votes and William Cardello finishing third at 157 votes.

While many of the citywide races are uncontested on the ballot (with the exception of potential write-in campaigns) in November as well there will be a bit more drama with contested races in Ward 2, Ward 6 and for At-Large Council seats.

In Ward 2, Mary Beth Mallia is challenging incumbent Peter McGuinn, while challenger Bukia Chalvire is looking to knock off one of the At-Large field that includes incumbents Ryan Melville, Thomas Gould, Jon Turco, Thomas Rossignoll and Anne Manning-Martin.

The remaining City Councilors and School Committee members up for re-election in this cycle are running unopposed on the ballot.

There are also contested races for Library Trustee and for the Municipal Light Commission.

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. X/Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)