After a special election that was more partisan than similar races, Ward 4 residents selected Karen McNamara as Concord’s newest city councilor.
In a special election Tuesday, McNamara, 52, a reading teacher, won 135 votes. Connor Spern, 24, came in second with 110 votes, and Edith Chiasson, 62, received 96 votes.
The election for the nonpartisan position had more political party involvement than many past city council elections. In Chiasson’s last election filing before Tuesday, she reported a $350 contribution from the Concord Republican City Committee. McNamara was endorsed by former state senator Dan Feltes, whose 2014 campaign she managed.
“I think you can see the numbers, it was a lot of hard work,” an emotional McNamara said about her victory. “I don’t even know … I’m just overwhelmed. But it’s cool, it’s very cool.”
Despite a rainy morning, voters showed up in greater numbers than Ward 4’s most recent special election, when 299 residents turned out in a 2019 election won by former councilor Meredith Hatfield. Tuesday’s voters represent about 10% of the 3,452 Ward 4 residents who were registered when the polls opened.
“It was a great campaign with all three of us,” Chiasson said. “Thank you to the ward voters who came out. I’m very happy with the turnout, we really pulled our neighborhood out and I think that’s awesome.”
Spern was surprised and pleased with the number of votes she received. “This is amazing. This was not the number I was expecting. I was expecting 50-something,” Spern said.
“I just want to thank everybody who did support me, a first-time candidate, a transplant, a young person in Concord with technically no political experience,” Spern added. “Next time I run, I’m going to come in hot because I know exactly what I need to do now, and now I’ve got a great powerhouse group of ladies.”
Voters cited issues like council spending, rising rent and property taxes, but most said they showed up to vote because they believed local elections matter just as much as larger ones.
“I voted in every election I could vote in since I was 18,” said Mike Lafontaine. “I’m very patriotic. I’m also a liberal.”
Reggie Barnum, 70, said she voted for Chiasson because of her honesty and fiscal responsibility. She also thought Chiasson would be an open-minded listener – who would prevent potentially divisive or emotional discussions of race.
“I’m concerned about critical race theory being taught in schools,” Barnum said. “I don’t want someone to say ‘I’m white and I have to pay for the sins of my
ancestors.’ ”
Carol Rodrigues, 73, voted for McNamara because she is worried about the rising costs of property taxes, but also inflation and gas prices. “She’s the one who showed up to my house,” Rodrigues said of McNamara.
Michael Quilici also appreciated a candidate’s personal touch: he voted for Spern because he received a hand-written postcard from her and appreciated the extra effort.
He and his wife Kait Doyle, who also voted for Spern, have lived in Ward 4 for five years.
“She has the best grasp of how expensive the average apartment rental in Concord is and she has the best grasp of affordable housing,” Doyle said. “Many people are paying, for a city of this size, a lot for housing.”
Candidates camped out in the parking lot of the Boys and Girls Club on Tuesday before 7 a.m. until the polls closed at 7 p.m., accompanied by friends, dogs, family members and Mayor Jim Bouley, who arrived to hold a sign in support of McNamara late Tuesday afternoon.
Bouley did not formally endorse McNamara before election day, but he said he supported her candidacy because he thought she wanted to improve Concord and had an open mind. “The best councilors come in without an agenda,” he said.
Most coronavirus safety measures from recent elections, like tape to encourage social distancing, were absent at the polls on Tuesday, except for a few gallons of hand sanitizer and boxes of optional masks.
Moderator John Williams said that in the fall 2020 election, younger poll workers stepped up to work the $10 per hour job usually filled by elderly residents, who were more concerned about the novel coronavirus.
“This is what we want to see in our future, the young folks engaging not just for presidential elections but for run-of-the-mill municipal elections,” Williams said.
One of those young people who stepped up in the last election was Kate Baca Dempsey, who said she falls into the age group of “geriatric millennials,” and also worked at the polls for the Ward 4 election.
“I’m young and less susceptible to COVID,” she said.
Her husband Sean Dempsey, 38, said he voted Tuesday because his wife was working there.
“I like to practice my civic duty,” he said. “I think local elections are really important for local areas.”
Participating in the democratic process and seeing first-hand all the measures that keep voting secure has made her feel better about the political process, Kate Dempsey said.
“It gave me more faith in the system.”