Northampton Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra, alongside her daughters, speaks in front of a packed crowd at Spoletto’s restaurant following her successful, but narrow, reelection bid.
Reminder Publishing photo by Trent Levakis
NORTHAMPTON – In an election night that featured a roller coaster of emotions, Northampton Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra was re-elected over challenger Jillian Duclos by just 76 votes.
According to the city’s unofficial results, Sciarra edged Duclos in a 4,637 to 4,561 tally.
Celebrating the victory during an election night party with a packed crowd of supporters at Spoleto’s restaurant, Sciarra expressed much gratitude for her campaign team and for the support shown once again by voters.
“You came to meetings, you held signs, you organized events, you door knocked, you phone-called, you talked to your friends and neighbors, you hung door hangers, you hosted house parties, you read, you edited, you wrote, you did video with me, you brainstormed, you read countless budget explanations,” said Sciarra. “You pushed back on lies and nastiness. You took bullets for me that I wish you never had to. You checked in on me, and you hugged me, and you helped me, so I thank you all. You all made this happen, and I’m just so grateful.”
Following the results, Sciarra told Reminder Publishing that she hopes to continue to find collaboration with the public for the city’s work ahead, adding that this campaign season was unlike anything she has ever experienced in the city.
“There was a lot of negativity and a lot of misinformation, and so I’m just really grateful that the people of Northampton are giving me four more years to work for the city,” said Sciarra.
While there were more voters in the general election compared to the Sept. 16 preliminary, Sciarra still received just over 50% of the voter base in the mayoral race.
The two candidates on the final ballot were at odds over the city’s two most pressing issues over the last year-plus: funding for schools and the “Picture Main Street” project, a development plan for downtown that has raised concerns from the public about potential impacts to businesses and the city’s downtown ecosystem.
Sciarra said she plans to continue to try and bridge the gap between her and the emerging subset of voters looking for a different direction than her administration.
“My message has always been that we need to collaborate. This work is collaborative. We don’t have to agree, but we need to meet each other with mutual respect and be able to have hard conversations. Without that baseline of respect, you can’t actually really talk about issues and try to come to some solutions. It’s just impossible,” she said. “So, my message is that I look forward to all the people that I’m going to be working with, and I expect that we’re all going to be able to work well together, and we will be talking about some tough stuff. But I hope they can meet me with the same level of respect that I will meet them.”
Northampton Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra speaks in front of a packed crowd at Spoletto’s restaurant following her successful, but narrow, reelection bid.
Reminder Publishing photo by Trent Levakis
She continued, “Then we can handle some of the tough things that are happening in Northampton right now, that are happening in the world, that could come to our door at any moment from the Trump administration. And also, some of the really great projects. We have a lot of really exciting stuff that we’re working on, and so I look forward to them joining me on them.”
Sciarra was the favorite coming out of the Sept. 16 preliminary election, where she received 2,991 votes, just over 50% of the vote between the four candidates in that race. Duclos finished second in the primary, receiving 1,510 votes.
Prior to the general election, Sciarra was endorsed by the Healey-Driscoll administration, along with the Massachusetts Women’s Political Caucus and Sierra Club. Duclos, meanwhile, had the endorsements of the Massachusetts Teachers Association and Support Our Schools, as well as Service Political Action Committee, an organization that has funded candidates who openly run on working toward more funding for the district.
As results started coming in on Nov. 4, it appeared the race could go either way. At one point, the energy at Duclos’ election night party at JJ’s Tavern lifted through much applause and fanfare, and belief in an upset over Sciarra felt as justified as ever in the moment.
The Duclos campaign was dealt a narrow defeat, however. As the unofficial results were fully tallied and the 76-vote margin was clear, many supporters inside JJ’s began chanting “re-count.” The Duclos campaign has not filed with the city for an official re-count, as of press time, despite the party’s chatter in reaction to the results.
During her speech to the crowd following the final results, Duclos criticized outside parties for influencing the city’s election.
“I just want to say, the stops that this administration had to pull out to get these votes to win this election – I’m a little frustrated that we have people on the state level that got involved in our politics without knowing our community. That is not acceptable. They don’t know what we’re going through, and we are going to do what we need to do to make sure our small businesses survive and our schools are funded. We are not going away,” Duclos said.
Jillian Duclos thanks supporters at JJ’s Tavern following the election’s results
Reminder Publishing photo by Trent Levakis
Duclos reiterated to Reminder Publishing after her comments to the crowd that while she felt she ran a successful campaign, the race ended up being a difficult challenge to overcome.
“I think that we did a really great job. We’re talking about an incumbent in a system that has put mayors in office time and time again for a couple of cycles,” said Duclos. “I think this movement made a splash. I think the people have spoken in ways that they haven’t in a long time. So, I’m proud of the people who showed up and I’m proud of the people who are here and did all the work to make it happen.”
Duclos added she plans to stay actively engaged in the community as the issues she ran on will still be at the forefront of the city moving forward.
“I think we have a lot ahead of us. I’m still worried about the small businesses downtown,” she said. “That was a big reason why I got involved in this work. I’m still worried about the schools, my son’s going to be in kindergarten at Bridge Street School in the fall. So, I think I’ll be working with these humans [supporters] to really kind of push the envelope and hold our leadership accountable in ways that we need them to invest in people now, especially with all that’s moving and shifting around us.”
