A First In 2023: All Worcester City Council Seats Will Be Contested

WORCESTER, MA — The deadline to file to run for seats on the Worcester City Council and School Committee passed Tuesday with 42 candidates entering this year's contests.

This year's election will be unique for several reasons: the high number of candidates, six new added district school committee seats — and for it being the first election where every city council seat will be contested.

In 1985, Worcester voters approved a charter change that created five new district council seats on top of six at-large seats and a mayoral position elected from the at-large pool. In all 18 general elections since 1987 — the first year the 1985 charter changes went into effect — one or more district council seats went uncontested.

This year, there are two open contests for the District 1 and District 4 seats with incumbents Sean Rose and Sarai Rivera not seeking reelection. Each of those races will be subject to a preliminary election in September to narrow down the number of candidates to two.

In District 3, incumbent George Russell will face his first challenger since 2017. The race will not have a preliminary election because there are only two candidates.

In District 2, incumbent Candy Mero Carlson is facing two challengers: disability advocate Rob Bilotta and Phil Palmieri, who held the seat between 2001 and 2015. Palmieri and Carlson squared off in the 2005 race with Carlson losing by only about 100 votes.

In District 5, first-term councilor Etel Haxhiaj will face two opponents in a September preliminary. She won the seat in 2021 after facing two challengers in a preliminary election. Former District 5 councilor Matt Wally left the seat in 2021 to seek an at-large council seat.

Here's the final list of candidates who filed by Tuesday's deadline:

At-Large City Council

• Khrystian King (i)
• Donna Colorio (i)
• Guillermo Creamer
• Johanna Hampton-Dance
• Maydee Morales
• Bill Coleman
• Kate Toomey (i)
• Domenica Perrone
• Joseph Petty (i)
• Moe Bergman (i)
• Thu Nguyen (i)
• Jonathan Rodriguez (pending certification as of Tuesday)

District 1 City Council

• Jenny Pacillo
• Larry Shetler
• David Peterson
• Joseph Rubino (pending certification as of Tuesday)

District 2 City Council

• Candy Mero-Carlson (i)
• Philip Palmieri
• Robert Bilotta

District 3 City Council

• George Russell (i)
• Feanna Jattan-Singh

District 4 City Council

• Katia Norford
• Theodore Kostas
• Maureen Schwab
• Maria Montano
• Luis Ojeda

District 5 City Council

• Etel Haxhiaj (i)
• Edson Montero
• Jose Rivera

School Committee At-Large

• Tracy O'Connell Novick (i)
• Laura Clancey (i)
• Susan Mailman (i)
• Maureen Binienda

School Committee District A

• Molly McCullough (i)

School Committee District B

• Vanessa Alvarez

School Committee District C

• Dianna Biancheria
• Jermoh Kamara (i)

School Committee District D

• Alex Guardiola

School Committee District E

• Kathleen Roy
• John Reed
• Nelly Medina

School Committee District F

• Jermaine Johnson (i)

Correction: A previous version of this story mistakenly left off a candidate running for at-large city council.