5 Candidates Will Run For Worcester Mayor In 2023

WORCESTER, MA — An important step in Worcester's quirky way of electing mayors happened Tuesday when all the non-mayoral candidates withdrew from the race.

Let's back up a few steps. Eleven at-large city council candidates were certified in May by the city clerk to appear on the ballot this year. All of those candidates were ALSO candidates for mayor — unless they withdrew from the mayoral race by Sept. 12.

On Tuesday, six of those 11 at-large candidates withdrew, leaving a field of five candidates who voters will cast two votes for in November: first for mayor, and then for an at-large council seat. To win, mayoral candidates have to win an at-large council seat AND get the most votes in the mayoral race. Here's how the city charter explains it:

"All candidates nominated in the preliminary election for the office of councilor at large ... shall appear on the ballot as candidates for councilor at large in the regular municipal election and shall also be listed on a separate portion of the ballot as candidates for the office of mayor. The candidate elected to the office of councilor at large and receiving the highest number of votes for the office of mayor shall be mayor. The candidate elected to the office of councilor at large and receiving the next highest number of votes for the office of mayor shall be vice-chair of the city council."

In most cities — Boston, Marlborough, Framingham, many others — mayors are elected after they get the most votes and don't also serve as city councilors. But that's not how Worcester does it, and won't unless there's a city charter change.

Here are the five candidates who will run for mayor (and an at-large council seat) in 2023:

Bill Coleman — Host of the "This Is Worcester" show and WCCA TV, and also the most experienced mayoral candidate. Coleman has run for mayor 12 times since 1991.

At-Large Councilor Donna Colorio — This is Colorio's third run for mayor, and her third run for an at-large city council seat. Colorio finished second in the mayoral race in 2021, earning her the position of vice chair of the city council over the last two years — and that put her in line to become mayor had Joseph Petty won his bid for a state senate seat in 2022.

Guillermo Creamer — Creamer previously worked in politics in Washington, DC, co-founding the nonprofit Pay Our Interns after working as an unpaid intern in Congress. He returned to Worcester in 2020 and ran for an at-large council seat 2021, but withdrew from the mayoral race. He placed 9th in a 10-way race that year. Creamer would be Worcester's first openly gay mayor.

At-Large Councilor Khrystian King — King is making his first run for mayor near the end of his fourth term on city council. King's 2023 mayoral run was long rumored before he announced it at a June event.

Mayor Joseph Petty — In his sixth term as mayor, it was unclear if Petty would run again in 2023 after he ran for state senate last year. He clarified that he definitely would run again in December, saying he has more work to do. Petty was first elected to the city council in 1997.