With 100% of votes tallied, incumbent Mayor Domenic Sarno and City Councilor Justin Hurst are the top two contenders advancing to the final election in November.
Sarno, who has held the position of mayor since 2007, has led the city of Springfield through a destructive tornado, a major gas explosion and the COVID-19 pandemic.
But this year he faced a rigorous set of challengers, including Hurst, City Councilor Jesse Lederman, state Rep. Orlando Ramos and therapist David Ciampi.
Hurst emerged as the top challenger during a preliminary election held on Sept. 12 with nearly 29% of the vote, and Sarno had just under half of the total vote at nearly 48%.
Sarno had 7,120 votes to Hurst’s 4,292. Ramos received the next highest at 2,032, Lederman had 1,344 votes, and Ciampi had 93.
Hurst, recognized by MassLive readers as an emerging Black leader earlier this year, has been a vocal critic of Sarno’s for much of his 10-year stint as city councilor in Springfield.
An outspoken critic of the city’s controversial Police Commission, Hurst has said the commission was doomed from the start by Sarno’s influence to limit its scope. If elected as mayor, Hurst has said he would ask all of the commissioners to resign and reapply.
“It’s obvious they have been set up to fail. Many are beholden to the mayor. It’s a complete debacle of epic proportions,” Hurst said.
Policing has been a key issue in Springfield, where homicides have broken yearly records this year, with 26 having happened so far, already more than any recent year with three and a half months to go until December 31.
Sarno has repeatedly blamed what he calls lenient bail provisions that allow repeat offenders to return to the streets.
The final election for Springfield mayor will take place on Nov. 7.
In other races, 10 candidates emerged from a field of 21 for five seats as Springfield City Councilors At Large — Kateri Walsh, Tracye Whitfield, Sean Curran, Brian Santaniello, Jose Delgado, Gerry Martin, Nicole Coakley, Willie Naylor, Juan Caraballo III and Juan Francisco Latorre III.
Two candidates also advanced in the City Council Ward 6 race — Victor Davila and Shanequa Fryar.
Overall, there were just under 15,000 ballots cast out of approximately 110,000, with about 13.5% turnout, according to Springfield’s elections page.
