Marlborough Councilor Dumais Running For Mayor In 2023

MARLBOROUGH, MA — Ward 3 Councilor Christian Dumais will kick off his campaign to run for Marlborough mayor this month, setting up a potential challenge for longtime Mayor Arthur Vigeant.

Dumais has been a city councilor since first winning a seat in 2017, unseating longtime former councilor Matthew Elder by a margin of 57 votes. According to state campaign records, Dumais switched his council campaign to a mayoral campaign in September, and has been raising money for a mayoral run since.

Vigeant has not declared either way if he'll run for reelection in 2023. He said Monday he'll likely make a decision over the next month and is busy now with the annual city budget process. If he did run and win, Vigeant would enter his seventh term as mayor.

Dumais, 42, owns and operates the DruMais hair salon in Marlborough outside his role on council. He said Monday he's running to "bring back the sense of community of place where I grew up."

On his campaign website, Dumais highlighted multiple issues motivating his run, including creating more affordable housing, repairing streets and improving schools. He also highlighted the city's longtime quest to build a new west side fire station as a main reason for his run. It's also an initiative that has caused tension between councilors and Vigeant.

"Seeing no action or movement on this issue is difficult to understand," his website says. "This is one of the main factors as why he is running. It has been difficult as a City Councilor to get an answer or an update on the process of a new station being built by the current administration."

Dumais said he feels there's been a wider lack of engagement between the mayor's office and local residents.

"It can be as simple as coming home and having your street closed for construction," he said. "It's all these little things."

Vigeant has faced the same challenger over the last two elections in 2019 and 2021: former Marlborough police officer David Garceau. Asked about his electoral plans when he retired in March 2022, Garceau indicated he might run for office again in Marlborough.

So far, Dumais has raised about $6,500 for his mayoral run, more than half of that in February alone, according to state campaign finance records. Vigeant hasn't done any major fundraising since May 2022, when he raised over $14,000 during the month. But Vigeant also has over $34,000 in his campaign account ready for use.

Dumais will hold a campaign kickoff event on March 30 at Lost Shoe Brewing & Roasting in downtown Marlborough.