HOLYOKE—On the precipice of the municipal election, the Facebook page Keep Holyoke Affordable took out the knives. It posted a darkened screengrab from a virtual Planning Board meeting centered on at-large Council candidate Mimi Panitch. The Facebook post included text that blasted her record on the Board and noted the menacing, eight-armed undulating cephalopod in her background.
HOLYOKE—Two years after making history as the Paper City’s first Latino mayor, Josh Garcia has won reelection and upended city politics again. It was one of many surprises that ripped through the 413 Tuesday night, matching some of the energy, enthusiasm and, above all, change voters are demanding from this Commonwealth to the Commonwealth of Virginia.
After eight heated municipal election cycles—three quarters of which featured mayoral races—the ballot will be cooler this year in Holyoke. Mayor Joshua Garcia will face no opposition on the ballot as he seeks another four-year term. There will be races down ballot, but even accounting for the lack of energy a mayoral race would draw, the Paper City may have its quietest November in nearly 20 years.
HOLYOKE—The LightHouse, an event space that used to be Gateway City Arts, was full. Mayor Joshua Garcia’s late February reelection kickoff attracted a crowd that included luminaries and grandees from not just throughout the region, but across the state. Nearly a month later, Garcia remains the only candidate for mayor of the Paper City.
The political season in Holyoke formally launched Thursday with Mayor Joshua Garcia’s announcement that he will seek a second full four-year term. Garcia made history in 2021 when he became the city’s first leader of Puerto Rican heritage of the city. Holyoke has one of the largest such communities in the continental United States.