UpdatedFri, May 7, 2021 at 11:08 am ET
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Twenty-four candidates for City Council and School Committee had returned signatures as of May 6. (Neal McNamara/Patch)
WORCESTER, MA An important milestone in the 2021 Worcester city election is coming up on with candidates under a Tuesday deadline to submit signatures to qualify for the November ballot.
As of Thursday, two dozen candidates had already submitted enough signatures to get on the ballot, including all but two incumbents and a slew of challengers.
Although many candidates have been campaigning for months, some surprising new contenders have emerged recently.
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Two police officers have gathered enough signatures, including state police Sgt. Gregory Stratman and Worcester police union leader Richard Cipro known for clashing with city officials, and co-administering a Facebook page that often features right-wing memes.
Potential candidates are still flocking to City Hall to take out nomination papers for the November election, but with the May 11 deadline to return those papers looming, it s still unclear who will make the cut to get on the November municipal election ballot.
Since Feb. 5, 13 candidates have taken out nomination papers for either at-large City Council, School Committee or district City Council seats, bringing the total to a robust 35.
Since we last checked in, Sue Mailman joined Jermoh Kamara in the School Committee race. Well, at least it was a race, until longtime committee member Jack Foley s announcement last week that he s not running again. Another longtime member, John Monfredo, also recently announced he won t seek reelection, which means that as it stands, Mailman and Kamara could sail onto the board unchallenged.
Worcesteria: Quist latest tribute in District 5 Hunger Games
Worcester Magazine
DISTRICT FIVE S HUNGER GAMES: Anyone who was watching knew the race for Worcester s District 5 City Council seat was going to be the most hotly contested, at least as coveted as the at-large seat being vacated by Gary Rosen, and probably more so because it s literally the only race that guarantees a new face on the Council, as its current occupant, Matt Wally, has thrown his hat into the at-large race. Still, it was kind of a surprise when Steve Quist – moderator of the Worcester Politics 101 Facebook group and public hater of what I ve done with Worcesteria – announced his candidacy on Hank Stoltz s “Talk of the Commonwealth” radio show on WCRN. He joins a quickly growing field that already includes Yenni Desroches and Etel Haxhiaj, the latter of whom made an impressive showing in her run for an at-large seat two years ago. Not enough? Apparently, Former District 5 councilman Wayne Griffin an