By Dakota Antelman — [email protected]
Concord elections are evolving. As this year’s campaign barrels toward election day, the changes are drawing mixed reviews.
Office-seekers say hurtful attacks are on the rise. High-profile endorsements are prompting concern. New practices have some stakeholders taking notice.
Hopefuls agree a spike in the number of candidate forums is good news. Heightened voter turnout could be a silver lining from heated competition. And while some criticize updated tactics, others say they make democracy more accessible.
“I would definitely say [the election] is more fraught,” said Nancy Confrey, a board member of the League of Women Voters of Concord-Carlisle. “It’s more high-energy.”
National influence
This year’s election includes a four-way race for two Select Board seats. For School Committee, three candidates are eyeing two seats. Town Moderator Carmin Reiss is running unopposed for re-election.
Absentee voting and voting by mail began on March 17. Election day is April 8. Even if they’ve voted by mail before, residents still need to apply for a mail-in ballot for this election.
Candidates met on March 16 for a League of Women Voters forum which Confrey said was the most crowded in the event’s history. She said the national climate has influenced local politics.
“It’s unnecessarily divisive, and I think you can only hold that off for so long,” she told The Concord Bridge.
Tough talk?
Sharp elbows are not exclusive to national politics. This year, School Committee candidate Sandeep Pisharody said some criticism has gotten “a little personal.” He would not share specifics but called the comments “disheartening” rather than “aggressive or to the point where I feel like I’m unsafe.”
School Committee incumbent Alexa Anderson said recent letters to the editor opposing her re-election brought her to tears when she read them in The Bridge.
“Even though it’s hard [and] I’m being personally attacked… ultimately, contested elections are a good thing,” she said. “I do believe in all of that, [but] do I cry every Friday for the last couple weeks? You bet I do.”
School Committee candidate Dr. Michael Williams said the climate should not be disrespectful — but candidates should be ready to be challenged.
“If you volunteer to stand to make decisions and those decisions go counter to some of your constituents, you have to listen to the good, and you have to listen to the bad,” he said.
New endorsements
In the Select Board race, current board chair Mary Hartman said she feels the community is “focusing on people and personalities more than the issues.”
Hartman also called having sitting board members endorse prospective colleagues “problematic” and against previous norms.
She didn’t single him out, but Select Board member Cameron McKennitt has backed candidates Elizabeth Akehurst-Moore and Joe Laurin to replace Hartman and Terri Ackerman, who is not seeking re-election.
In an email, McKennitt sidestepped a Bridge question about whether his endorsements bucked tradition: “The ‘norm’ for Concord has been local elections where less than 3,100 people voted,” he said. “Last year, we bucked that trend.”
He said he is “fully committed to working collaboratively” with whoever wins next month.
School Committee chairs Carrie Rankin and Julie Viola and members Tracey Marano and Andrew Herchek have endorsed Anderson and Pisharody.
Herchek cited Court Booth’s 2024 endorsement of then-candidate Liz Cobbs and said he did “not view this year as a departure from the norm.”
Marano — who’s Anderson’s campaign manager — called her endorsements “wholly appropriate” and said she’s “unaware of any rules or traditions that would suggest otherwise.” She also said she has endorsed in the past.
Asked if her endorsements would influence her ability to work with Williams if he were to win a seat, she said, “I will work with any elected official whom I believe positively supports our schools and our students.”
Separately, Viola said it is “not only appropriate but important for sitting members to share their perspectives.”
Ultimately, she said, she “will work collaboratively with whoever is elected.”
In an email after the print version of this article went to press, Rankin said she has “never observed an expectation that sitting members remain silent during elections.”
“In fact, Concord has a long tradition of leadership in democratic values, and part of that is respecting each person’s right to speak up or stay private,” she said.
Rankin said Concord’s tradition also includes “honor[ing] the will of the voters, no matter the outcome.
Ayesha Lawton, the METCO School Committee representative for Concord-Carlisle High School, also endorsed Anderson. She said her support “is based on my own opinion [and] my passion for the success of the METCO program in Concord.”
Lawton said she doesn’t think her endorsement “would negatively impact any future interactions,” and added “I look forward to supporting everyone on the committee and in the community.”
Lawn signs and Instagram
Yard signs around Concord reveal a general alignment in candidate support. Anderson, Pisharody, Akehurst-Moore, and Laurin are an oft-spotted sign grouping. Boehm, Hartman, and Williams are another.
The split isn’t absolute — but it’s enough for candidates to face questions, particularly when certain hopefuls put each other’s signs in their own yards and enthusiastically feature each other on their Instagram stories.
Boehm said he isn’t coordinating with Hartman, and they’re holding separate events. He said he privately supports candidates in the School Committee race, but isn’t campaigning with them.
Without naming names, Boehm said other candidates are “running as a bloc with an overarching motivation” — a type of campaign that he said “has a bit of a national feel to it.”
‘Definitely not a ticket’
Akehurst-Moore said no one recruited her to run — and that no one’s telling her how to do it. Though she and Laurin have appeared jointly and endorsed each other, she said she’d “be happy to serve with anyone.”
Laurin said he and Akehurst-Moore are “definitely not a ticket,” but he acknowledged a “natural grouping of folks who may generally agree on the direction that the town should go in.”
Pisharody has held events with both Williams and Anderson. “It just so happens [that] my network overlaps more with Alexa than it does with Michael,” he said,
Recognizing that some voters might not be able to attend meet-and-greets with every candidate, Anderson said “A couple of us have started to leverage each other’s networks.”
She said the electorate has availed itself of multi-candidate events such as those featuring her, Pisharody, Akehurst-Moore, and Laurin.
Anderson said voters have appreciated the events, but added that she is not part of a ticket.
For her part, Hartman said she’s concerned about School Committee and Select Board candidates campaigning together because the two bodies are meant to be independent.
In general, Hartman said there should be healthy debate between the Select Board and the School Committee. “I don’t think anybody wants the Select Board running the schools,” she said. “And we don’t want the schools running the town.”
Flood of forums
Not long ago, Anderson said the kind of contested races that drew 31% voter turnout last year were a rarity. “Any freaking loser could just walk in and be on the School Committee or the Select Board,” she said.
Though this year’s race has been difficult, she said, “contested elections are a good thing.”
Increasingly, local groups want to get in on the campaign action, putting candidates on the hot seat with their organization’s specific concerns.
Before the League of Women Voters event, Select Board candidates attended a forum sponsored by the Concord Business Partnership. In the weeks since, candidates have been invited to events by the Climate Action Network, the Council on Aging, the DEI Commission, and the Concord Housing Authority.
The climate action, DEI Commission, and housing authority meetings were additions to the annual election calendar.
Laurin, who came in fourth in last year’s Select Board race, said his 2025 bid requires more time and energy. But he called the flood of forums “great.”
“Each of those groups has its sort of different lens that it’s viewing things through,” he said.
Confrey said she’s “optimistic” that turnout will jump this year and hopes the community will then transition into a period of collaboration.
There are “so many things that we could productively work together to do,” she said.
‘More hugs than fights’
This year’s heated election season is raising eyebrows among candidates and observers alike.
While residents make their choices for School Committee and Select Board, some are reflecting on history and looking forward to a calmer climate.
“We need more hugs than fights at this point,” School Committee hopeful Sandeep Pisharody said.
When her husband ran for a seat on what was then called the Board of Selectmen in 1988, Win Wilbur said the race was “gentlemanly.”
She also didn’t remember the kind of alliances or coordinated campaigns that some stakeholders say they see today.
Unlike Wilbur, League of Women Voters of Concord-Carlisle board member Nancy Confrey said there have “always been alliances.” What is new, she argued, is the intensity of competition.
Once the campaign wraps up, Select Board chair Mary Hartman said winners will have their hands full.
“No matter who wins this race,” she said, “we have to work together.”
