Election 2021: Worcester Gets 2 New Councilors, 3 New School Committee Members

WORCESTER, MA — Preliminary results released Tuesday in Worcester's 2021 election show that there will be two new City Councilors, a returning mayor and three new School Committee members.

At the top of the ballot, incumbent Mayor Joseph Petty Jr. secured a sixth term. He bested his biggest challenger, At-Large Councilor Donna Colorio, by close to 6,000 votes with all precincts reporting, according to preliminary results.

But the mayoral race wasn’t the main attraction in Worcester in 2021. The District 1 City Council and the School Committee contests attracted more attention — and more controversy — than other races.

Just after 8:30 p.m., District 1 Councilor Sean Rose declared victory over challenger Richard Cipro, a Worcester police sergeant and police union leader. The two candidates brawled over several issues after Cipro came out ahead in the Sept. 14 primary. Rose called Cipro "Trumpian," and called attention to Cipro’s police union Facebook page after a member of the group drew what appeared to be a Hitler mustache on a photo of Petty.

At a candidate forum in late October, Rose framed the District 1 race as one that would decide whether Worcester would remain a “warm, caring accepting” city, or "a city that engages in division.”

In the Worcester School Committee race, voters rejected two candidates — including one incumbent — who largely opposed the district's new sex education curriculum.

With nearly all precincts reporting near 9:15 p.m., incumbents Tracy Novick, Laura Clancey and Molly McCullough were set to return in 2022; and newcomers Sue Coghlin Mailman, Jermaine Johnson and Jermoh Kamara were set to join the committee.

Incumbent Dianna Biancheria and first-time candidate Shanel Soucy were trailing in preliminary returns. Soucy was a main proponent of the "opt-out" movement, and came under fire for anti-LGBTQ comments attributed to her in the last weeks of election season.

In the At-Large race, newcomer Thu Nguyen picked up a seat, becoming Worcester's first nonbinary Councilor. The At-Large race also saw incumbent Matt Wally lose a bid for a seat after he decided to vacate his District 5 seat this year.

District 5 candidate Etel Haxhiaj defeated Gregory Stratman, a retired state police officer, preliminary results show. She was leading by almost 400 votes with all precincts reporting Tuesday night. Haxhiaj came through the Sept. 14 primary with nearly 55 percent of the vote. Stratman, the second-place finisher, earned about 26 percent in September.

One of the first groups to react to Haxhiaj's win was the Environmental League of Massachusetts, which said her victory shows the importance of environmental issues at the municipal level.

"Her decisive victory is a testament to the importance placed by the people of Worcester on immediate climate action. She is ready to hit the ground running with her plans to ban natural gas in new construction, repair existing gas leaks and increase access to renewable energy," the group said in a news release.

In District 2, preliminary results showed incumbent Candy Mero-Carlson ahead of challenger Johanna Hampton-Dance with about 56 percent of the vote. Hampton-Dance began her campaign more than a year ago in summer 2020, and focused on items like police reform and the cost of housing in the lead up to Nov. 2.

Turnout in the 2021 election was lower than the last municipal election in 2019. About 16.5 percent of registered voters went to the polls on Nov. 2 compared to 17.56 percent in 2019, according to the City Clerk.

Here are the preliminary results for Worcester's 2021 election with presumed winners names in bold. Sign up for Worcester Patch email alerts.

Worcester Mayor

• Joseph Petty (i) — 10,087
• Peter Stefan — 931
• Donna Colorio — 4,150
• Bill Coleman — 1,509

At-large City Council

• Morris Bergman (i) — 7,336
• Peter Stefan — 3,751
• Kate Toomey (i) — 7,965
• Thu Nguyen — 7,364
• Joseph Petty (i) — 8,797
• Guillermo Creamer — 5,264
• Matthew Wally (i) — 6,658
• Khrystian King (i) — 7,803
• Bill Coleman —5,441
• Donna Colorio (i) — 7,279

City Council District 1

• Sean Rose — 3,405
• Richard Cipro — 2,998

City Council District 2

• Candy Mero-Carlson (i) — 1,163
• Johanna Hampton-Dance — 904

City Council District 3

• George Russell (i) — 1,519

City Council District 4

• Sarai Rivera (i) — 925

City Council District 5

• Etel Haxhiaj — 2,584
• Gregory Stratman — 2,205

Worcester School Committee

• Jermaine Johnson — 8,900
• Molly McCullough (i) — 8,185
• Sue Mailman — 8,872
• Jermoh Kamara — 7,994
• Laura Clancey (i) — 6,904
• Dianna Bincheria (i) —6,127
• Shanel Soucy — 5,079
• Tracy Novick (i) — 8,009