UPDATED 1:11PM: To reflect a correction. An earlier version of this post transposed the vote totals for Breindel and Dombrowski

Paved Paradise and put up a voting booth. (via Facebook/Nortampton official)

Voters in three Valley cities slimmed down their ballots on Tuesday and began the march to the general election in November. Chicopee, Holyoke and Northampton had a handful of races among them where more than two candidates were running. By far, however, the highest profile of these races was for mayor in Northampton, which is experiencing a heated cycle as the mayor seek reelection.

The incumbent, Gina-Louise Sciarra, advanced the general with a bit under half of the vote. The former head of the Downtown Northampton Association Jillian Duclos had about the a quarter of the vote. Still, it was enough to advance and leave the other mayoral candidates Dan Breindel and David Dombrowski behind. Plus, a local political action committee is standing by to shower a bit of extra money into the race.

Despite Sciarra’s comfortable if plurality showing in the mayor’s race, it and other Noho contests sizzled far more than the preliminaries in Chicopee and Holyoke’s. The former had a preliminary only for elector. The Paper city had only one ward Council seat and one ward School Committee seat on its ballot. Of note, the incumbent Ward 1 City Councilor in Holyoke placed second in her race.

Sciarra took a bit less of the preliminary vote than she did four years ago. In 2021, the mayor’s seat was open then as then-Mayor David Narkewicz declined to seek another term. Then the City Council President, Sciarra ran for the top job and faced underfunded opposition in both rounds of the election.

This year, several issues likely contributed a larger and more energetic field. Northampton has wrestled with questions about renewal downtown in the post-pandemic era. The schools, namely their funding, have also received outsized attention. Hence the name of the PAC that has gotten involved: Support Our Schools and Services (SOSS).

Sciarra launching her re-elect at the Iron Horse earlier this year. (WMP&I)

Sciarra received 2,991 votes compared to Duclos’ 1,510. Breindel and Dombrowski received 1,214 and 482 votes respectively.

The impact of SOSS on the mayor’s race appears to have been low, but it spent less than $1,400 on Duclos. Filings with the Massachusetts Office of Campaign & Political Finance show it still has nearly $26,000 cash on hand.

Moreover, the Shoestring reported that every candidate SOSS backed in Northampton’s preliminary advanced. The other three races on the ballot Tuesday were all Council races, namely for Northampton’s at-large, Ward 1, Ward 3 and Ward 5 seats.

Incumbent Councilor Garrick Perry and challengers Meg Robbins, Benjamin Spencer and Deb Henson advanced. Noho has two at-large Council seat. In Ward 1, Gwenevra Nabad and Michele Ronco advanced. Incumbent Quaverly Rothenberg and Laurie Loisel advanced to the November ballot in Ward 3. Finally, in Ward 5, the general election will be between Aline Davis and Vincent Rotello. Ward 1 and 5 are open seats.

In addition to Duclos, SOSS endorsed Henson, Robbins, Ronco and Rotello.

Downriver in Holyoke, Ward 1 Councilor Jenny Rivera survived the preliminary, but placed second to challenger Victor Machado DeJesus. The Ward 5 School Committee seat is open this year. In the general election for that seat are Jens Michaelsen and Aida Luz Oquendo.

Finally, across the river in Chicopee, Rajesh Sanghvi narrowly placed first in the open City Collector’s race. Sanghvi won 795 votes. Sandra Ann Peret won 771 to place second. Ward 5 City Councilor Frederick Krampits was eliminated after winning only 552 votes. Sanghvi and Peret will face off in November.