Who Will Be the Next New Bedford City Councilor? [OPINION]
There will be a new New Bedford at-large city council member elected next year. Longtime councilor Debora Coelho is retiring and that means a new councilor in 2021.
In 2019, Mayor Jon Mitchell was overwhelmingly re-elected. He was also the first mayor of New Bedford elected to a four-year term. A ballot question to change the mayor's term from two years to four years was overwhelmingly approved by the voters in 2017. The change in term length means the city will not have an election in 2021 for mayor.
Without a race for mayor, the 2021 election had the potential to be an afterthought.