Not quite ‘Pawlitics as usual’: In Somerville, voters hit the polls for ‘bike path mayor’

One candidate is fighting for kibble and canned tuna for all. Another promises “crunchies in every dish.”

What began with a few jokey lawn signs on the Somerville Community Path supporting local cat candidates for the made-up post of “bike path mayor” has grown into something much greater.

A row of dozens of signs now flanks the side of the paved path just outside of Davis Square. Most candidates are still cats, but several dogs, a bird, some guinea pigs, and a cactus houseplant have all thrown their hats in the ring.

“I am nonpartisan in the cat race,” said Matthew Griisser, a Somerville resident who regularly walked by the signs this summer as they proliferated. “I don’t have a preferred candidate. It’s hard with the, like, 50 of them we have now.”

In fact, there are now closer to 90 signs. A QR code on one small placard directs voters to an online ballot that, as of Thursday, listed more than 70 of the candidates.

Voting is set to close Sept. 5 — which also happens to be the last day voters can register for Somerville’s preliminary municipal elections, which include a race for the actual human mayor.

But on the bike path, the favorite may be Berry, the incumbent, a steely-eyed black and white cat who pledges to “Make Cats Outside Again.” To neighbors and Somerville’s active Redditors, she’s “Mayor Berry,” a frequent presence along this stretch of the bike path.

Her owner and “campaign manager,” Mallory Bissett, told the Boston Globe that Berry, an outdoor cat who refuses to wear a collar, had often been mistaken for a stray or missing housecat.

The campaign was a way to “elevate her persona,” so people recognized that the cat belonged outside, happily meandering the area around the bike path.

But no mayoral candidate is complete without a rival. Enter the aptly named Orange Cat.

His owner, Janet McNamara, a friend and neighbor of Bissett’s, told the Globe, “Mallory determined her cat was the Bike Path Mayor. Just announced it one day.”

From the original pair of competing yard signs, a grassroots campaign flourished as other locals added candidates to the mix.

“Berry and Orange Cat were the original two,” Griisser said Thursday morning during a stroll down the bike path. “Now, just every day I walk by and there’s one or two new signs.”

“I think it is pretty impressive,” he added, before he was cut off by a man walking by who called out, “Vote for Berry!”

“I voted for Berry, the incumbent,” said AC Kemp as she stopped by the path Thursday to check for new entrants to the race. “She’s around a lot. You know, she comes down here to meet the constituents, let them pet her and so on. I have a strong feeling about her.”

Kemp had also considered casting a vote for Large Snake — a pet snake, to be clear, not a cat named Large Snake. But his sign had been removed from the bike path, and he isn’t on the ballot, she said.

The candidates come from across the ideological spectrum.

Ernie, a wide-eyed black cat with a blue collar, urges supporters to “Feel the Ern” on a sign mimicking Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaigns. A more ominous sign, for a dark, long-haired cat named Minerva, simply reads, “CRIME” in block white letters on a black background.

A sign for one candidate, a black cat named DJ, said his campaign is supported by “The Committee for Pawsitive Change.” Another candidate’s messaging is “paid for by the Com-meow-nist Party,” and a third has the support of the “Tabbycrat Party.”

Charlotte “Chungus McBungus” is up front about how she would conduct herself in office: “Will exchange political favors for treats,” her sign reads.

On another sign, a pair of French bulldogs, Duke and Ella, ask voters: “You got anyone betta??”

Timber, a tropical-looking bird from the “FEATHERalist Party,” informs the public, “Don’t believe the CATalog of propaganda.”

“Pawlitics as usual?” another candidate asked. “Not meow.”

And Kevin the Cactus breaks the mold entirely and seemingly has a hold on the houseplant lane of the race.

Advocating on his pink sign for “Anti-Vegetarianism,” he urges voters to “Save a planet; Eat a cow.”