There will be one new face and one familiar on the Springfield City Council starting in January, after Tuesday’s election.
Former city councilor and one-time mayoral candidate Justin Hurst came in second place in the race for five at-large seats, representing the whole city. And in Ward 7, challenger Gerry Martin defeated incumbent Tim Allen with a whopping 66% of the vote. Allen has been on the council since 2009.
The at-large race pitted eight candidates. One-term incumbent Jose Delgado finished on top with 16% of the vote. He was followed by the challenger Hurst, then Kateri Walsh, Tracye Whitfield and Brian Santaniello, who all retained their seats.
Current councilor Sean Curran finished 6th and lost his position, finishing 88 votes behind Santaniello. Other challengers Juan "Jay" Latorre and Nicole Coakley rounded out the field.
Reached after the results came in Tuesday night, Delgado said he believed he impressed voters over the last two years as a city councilor.
"It shows that the work that I was doing, that people were paying attention,” he said. “I ran for city council because I wanted to come with solutions, I wanted to collaborate and it shows in those results."
Springfield resident Antonio DeJesus voted for Delgado.
"He has done a tremendous job since being elected and I think he deserves another opportunity," he said in Spanish at a polling place in the city's North End.
As for Hurst, who had just over 13% of the vote, it is a return to political life in his native Springfield. He had served for a decade on the council before running for mayor in 2023. Hurst was defeated by long-time Mayor Domenic Sarno and had been dogged by allegations his campaign was involved in a vote-buying scandal right before that election. There’s been no resolution announced publicly with that situation, Hurst has adamantly denied the allegations and given his strong finish, it did not seem to bother voters.
He said Tuesday night, being defeated two years ago when he ran for mayor showed there was an appetite for change in Springfield — and that he carried that momentum into this year's race.
“We were extremely vocal before we left the council, we were extremely vocal when we decided to run for mayor and we're still vocal now,” Hurst said. “And I think that's what catapulted us to the number two slot.”
Martin beats Allen handily in Ward 7
Perhaps the most surprising result in Springfield Tuesday came in Ward 7. Challenger Gerry Martin unseated long-time incumbent Tim Allen by about a two-to-one margin.
The rest of the opposed councilors representing wards won re-election, but some had to sweat it out.
Ward 1 saw Maria Perez held off challenger Joesiah Gonzalez by a 32-vote margin.
Iveliss Gonzalez, of Springfield, cast her vote for Perez. The two women have worked together as community activists for decades. She held a sign for Perez on Tuesday morning outside a city polling location.
"I'm with Maria Perez because she has always been about the people. She gives of herself for the people," she said.
Malo Brown won another term in Ward 4 narrowly, fending off challenger Willie Naylor by 30 votes.
In Ward 5, Councilor Lavar Click-Bruce won over Edward Nuñez by 49 votes.
And the closest race of all came in Ward 6, where incumbent Victor Davila won reelection over Mary Johnson by just 18 votes.
Turnout in Springfield was 10.2% percent on Tuesday for this mid-term election. Mayor Domenic Sarno was not on the ballot as he is in the middle of his latest term, which expires in 2027.
