Politics & Government

Competitive Concord Mayor, Councilors, School Board Races Bring Out Voters In Droves

Nearly 28% cast ballots after 13 of 15 races were contested for mayor, at large, ward city council seats, and 3 Zone school board seats.

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Scenes from the polls in Concord on Election Day 2023 — Nov. 7.
Scenes from the polls in Concord on Election Day 2023 — Nov. 7. (Tony Schinella/Patch)

CONCORD, NH — Considering the historically low voter turnout for past municipal elections, anywhere from 11 to 20 percent, it would be fair to say that in 2023, voters swamped the polls.

Nearly 28 percent of registered voters cast ballots on Tuesday, probably because, for the first time in decades, they had a lot of choices to consider. Thirteen of the city’s 15 races were contested, including three candidates who ran for mayor, five for at-large city council, eight of the 10 ward council seats, and all three board of education Zone (formerly known as district) positions.

A clear indication it was going to be a busy day?

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Ward 5, the Rumford Street entrance of the Christa McAuliffe Elementary School was lined with candidates, their supporters, and voters at 11 a.m. And even though the polls had only been open for four hours, two-thirds of the vote total from two years before had already cast ballots.

By the time the polls closed, a whopping 39.5 percent of voters cast ballots in Ward 5.

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Several candidates, including Ward 5 Councilor Stacey Brown and her challenger, Noemi Wierwille, at large candidates Judith Kurtz and Kevin Porter, mayoral candidate Byron Champlin, former councilor Mark Coen, and outgoing mayor Jim Bouley were all at the polls.

Brown said she did not know how the results would play out but the weather was nice and there was a steady flow of voters. She said there was always more things she could have done — more conversations and more door-knocking.

“I like going to people’s houses and chatting,” Brown said. “It’s fun. I’m going to do it more often.”

Wierwille, who filed on the last day and raised more than four times as much money as Brown, was in good spirits outside the polls. This, despite being targeted for serving on the Ad-Hoc Beaver Meadow Golf Course Building Committee and a hit piece in the Concord Monitor about raising money from friends and family out of state. She said her goal was to increase turnout and she wanted Ward 5 “to really engage in this election … it was really important for everyone to pay attention and elect a great team.”

Brown ended up winning by 100 votes.

Taylor Hall, an at-large candidate who was also campaigning at Ward 5, was very happy with the heavy turnout and engagement, something he mentioned during his mayoral run two years before.

“Getting involved is always a plus,” Hall said.

After the results, in which Hall placed a distance fifth, he said, while disappointed, the increased turnout was great to see. There were, however, some concerns with the results.

“During this election cycle, I did observe some things that scare me about the future of the city, namely the subtle injection of partisan politics in what is supposed to be a non-partisan election and the significant sums of money that poured into this race — sums far beyond what the position pays,” Hall said. “The role of a city councilor should be defined by a genuine commitment to the betterment of Concord, prioritizing the needs of our community over personal projects and political agendas. Our city deserves representatives who put the interests of its residents above all else.”

Champlin, who won in a landslide against Kate West, the former school board member ousted from her seat after moving out of her Zone seat coverage area, and George Jack, who has also run unsuccessfully for at-large city council and school board, said he thought his race went well.

“All the signs I see,” he said, “are very positive. I’m getting a lot of spontaneous and enthusiastic expressions of support from people at the polls. More than a thumbs up. And that’s very encouraging.”

Champlin was asked about an attempt by at least one candidate on the east side of the city who appeared to be trying to ride on his coattails by including his signs with theirs. He said he did not have a problem with his signs on the sticks since it showed support for him, not necessarily his support for other candidates.

Champlin won with more than 71 percent of the vote.

Judith Kurtz, a relatively new resident to Ridge Road, ran a strong effort to secure one of the two at-large city council seats. She was pleased, too, by the turnout, something her son called “Awesome sauce.” While there were always more things that could have been done, she was pleased with the effort.

“I feel really proud of the campaign and the conversations that I’ve had, and I really valued the people I’ve gotten to work with,” Kurtz said, “and the competitors, too, and those conversations, I’m just feeling good, regardless of the outcome.”

Kurtz placed second, securing one of the two at large seats.

Bouley, who standing at the polls, like always, said he was not feeling melancholy … he was feeling joy. He enjoyed seeing all of his neighbors and friends coming out to vote.

At just before noon, at Ward 3, 165 had cast ballots. Even though there was not a competitive ward council race, more than 27 percent of voters would cast ballots by the end of the day.

Matt Hicks, a state representative from the east side of the city, was campaigning for an at-large seat at the new polling location, the Beaver Meadow Elementary School. He noted the weather was perfect for elections and lamented why elections did not occur earlier in the year.

“It’s certainly a busy time of year,” he said. “I think the campaign went well. Regardless of the outcome for me, I’m happy to see the turnout up. It’s very encouraging.”

Hicks placed third, about 450 votes away from winning the second seat.

Jennifer Kretovic, who ran unopposed for re-election as well as Tom Croteau, an outgoing school board member, were also at the Ward 3 polls. He was unopposed for the SAU 8 treasurer seat and took on the role of staying involved in retirement.

At the Barn at Bull Meadow, where Ward 2 votes, more than 250 people cast ballots by 12:15 p.m. — more voters than in 2021. By the end of the day, nearly 22 percent of the ward had voted, nearly three times as many as two years before.

Michele Horne, a long-time resident of the northern part of the city, bested Rob Kleiner by 27 votes. Horne felt confident, especially with the increased turnout and response at the polls.

“I’m proud of the race I’ve run,” she said.

Kleiner also was positive about the race despite being hit with a negative, anonymous lit drop, as well as comments online about his role at his HOA.

“I’m glad to see how involved the community is, because that is when the city wins,” he said. “When more people are engaged with the political process; when more people are involved in voting. The city really wins.”

At Ward 1, Brent Todd, who was running unopposed, was concerned about whether the location change would lower turnout (Ward 1 was moved to Merrimack Valley High School for the first time this year). But by 12:45 p.m., with 226 votes cast, about two-thirds of the 2021 numbers, had cast ballots. Ultimately, 512 voters would cast ballots, or nearly double what it was two years before.

In Ward 10, at 1:15 p.m., voters had surpassed the 2021 turnout by nearly 100 votes. In the end, 37 percent would cast ballots.

Jeff Foote, a lifelong resident of Concord, successfully challenged incumbent Zandra Rice Hawkins, who was active, along with other activists in the city connected to Change for Concord, in corralling several candidates to run in 2023 but will not be on the council to lead them during the next two years.

“I think it was a great experience,” Foote said. “I think I have rekindled a lot of old relationships and seen a lot of people I haven’t seen in years. It has been very rewarding. It has been excellent. I think we did fine.”

One thing he wished he had more of — and it was something a lot of candidates said, too, was more time.

Rice Hawkins, too, was encouraged by the heavy turnout and called it a great day. The roles of school board members and city councilors, she added, had a “huge impact on your day-to-day life in Concord” throughout the year.

“It’s exciting to see people so invested in these local races,” she said.

In the end, Foote won by more than 60 votes.

Brenda Hastings, the incumbent Zone C member who was also at the polls at Ward 10 and said she would be happy with the result either way. She did not look at having two challengers as a bad thing. It was good the residents of Concord were involved, she said.

“I feel good,” she said. “I feel I did everything I could have done.”

Hastings easily beat Kassey Cameron and Peter Surmanis by more than 71 percent of the vote.

By 1:45 p.m. at Ward 9, turnout had nearly doubled compared to 2021. In the end, about 24 percent voted, primarily buoyed by Kris Schultz and Andrew Georgevits competing for the open council seat.

Georgevits was encouraged by the high turnout but sounded an alarm about the partisan nature some voters had when considering candidates for a non-partisan race. One voter, he said, suggested he would try to ban abortion if he won the council seat despite councilors having no role in the abortion issue. Instead, he was focused on property taxes, homelessness, and crime. Georgevits said he was thankful for the good weather though.

Schultz won by 68 votes.

Also, at the polls, firefighters served chili from a pot (it was good, thank you).

In Ward 8, voter turnout was also high — more than 100 votes higher than 2021. Dennis Soucy and his wife were hanging out while supporters of Ali Sekou were also at the polls. Sekou beat both Soucy and Jonathan Cate, with 289 votes.

Turnout was also heavy in Ward 4, with 416 votes casting ballots at 2:30 p.m., 100 more votes than two years before.

Kevin Porter, an at-large who placed a solid fourth, was outside the polls and said he was glad to see such “great civic engagement” from the voters and also commended the candidates in the at-large race.

“We’re all here for Concord,” Porter said.

Porter agreed he could have used more time to campaign. An eight-week race was just too short.

Jess Campbell and her mom, who is from New Jersey, were also campaigning outside of the ward. She felt “fantastic” about the response at the polls and was seeing a lot of familiar faces.

Michael Guglielmo was at the polls later in the afternoon with his kids, who were dressed to the nines. He said, as a novice candidate, he had fun with the campaign and had a lot of voters agree with his “let kids be kids” campaign slogan.

“I’m here fighting the fight for the parents,” he said.

Two weekends ago, he spent $1,900 to have a plane fly a campaign banner around the city. He also asked members of the homeless community to hold signs, offering them Market Basket gift cards in exchange for their time.

A few days before voters went to the polls, the Concord Monitor published a hit piece about his criminal record, using a mugshot of his face, covered in blood. In that case, from four years ago, Guglielmo said, he was the victim, which is why he was covered in blood. Another case involving a misdemeanor sexual assault allegation from 2015 was dropped and he pleaded to a lesser charge. Also, in the story, the newspaper falsely claimed he was convicted of crimes in January and had been arrested several times since 2019 when he had not. His cases, however, were resolved years ago, and the person arrested at his house for assault was his ex. The woman was also arrested for eight stalking and eight breach of bail charges last month. Patch requested all of his criminal files in both February and wrote about the cases at that time. The issue was also raised in the debate between himself and Campbell.

Guglielmo called the hit piece “election interference” and threatened to sue the newspaper for malice and libel.

Campbell would win the seat easily against three other candidates on the ballot.

Karen McNamara, the Ward 4 councilor, was at the polls for the last two hours of the day. She enjoyed campaigning this year and especially reaching out to people in the ward. McNamara said canvassing allowed her to find out what the city was doing well and not doing well.

McNamara beat her opponent, Sarah Beauregard, by a three-to-one margin.

Debates From 12 Of The 13 Competitive Races

2023 Municipal Candidate Profiles

Campaign 2023 Posts & Stories

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