Peabody City Councilor Anne Manning-Martin Launches Late Re-Election Bid

PEABODY, MA — Peabody At-Large City Councilor Anne Manning-Martin launched a late bid to retain her seat on the Council on Tuesday — concluding "now is not the time to leave" — after she said she had previously considered stepping away from public service after 25 years.

She said she will look to return to the Council in November's election to help deal with the city's pressing fiscal challenges and "the urgent need to rebuild and safeguard public trust in its leadership."

"The people of Peabody deserve a leader with the institutional knowledge to avoid the costly mistakes of the past, and the dedication to protect and improve the lives of the many — not just the few," Manning-Martin said in a statement to Patch on Tuesday morning.

She served on the Peabody School Committee from 2000 to 2007 and has been a member of the City Council since 2008. She ran an unsuccessful campaign for Governor's Council last year.

She said she has been recognized for her "courage, honesty and commitment to accountability" in her career, while working to strengthen neighborhoods, safeguard taxpayer dollars and increase transparency in city government.

"The foundation of good government is public trust," she told Patch. "It must be earned every day through honesty, transparency, and putting the public's interest first.

"I'm running for re-election to make sure Peabody has leadership it can believe in."

Peabody will not hold a preliminary election in this year's cycle and will hold a single, general election on Nov. 4.

(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.)