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Date: 9/27/2021
HOLYOKE – The city of Holyoke has officially narrowed the mayoral candidate field from seven candidates down to two.
Voters participated in the city’s preliminary election on Sept. 21, which saw 18.95 percent of Holyoke’s residents vote.
Candidates on the ballot included City Councilor Rebecca Lisi, City Councilor Michael Sullivan, School Committee member Devin Sheehan, Blandford Town Manager Joshua Garcia, resident Christopher Kosinski, resident Gloria Caballero-Roca and resident William “Billy” Glidden.
Ultimately, after months of campaigning, debating and fundraising, Garcia and Sullivan were announced as the winners of the preliminary election. Of the 5,147 votes cast, Sullivan received 1,431 while Garcia received 1,127. Coming in third in the election was Lisi, who received a total of 1,016 votes, just 111 fewer than Garcia. Sheehan received 832 votes, Glidden received 523, Caballero-Roca received 117 and Kosinski received 38 votes.
Sheehan was the only candidate to issue a formal statement by the morning of Sept. 22 where he expressed his gratitude and appreciation. He said, in part, “When we started this campaign nine months ago it was one to build a community and craft a vision for Holyoke's future. Although we came up short tonight I learned so much about our city, our residents and myself. I am so grateful for my volunteers, the people who hosted house parties, and those of you that encouraged residents to chat with me about my ideas. I am so appreciative to everyone that made our campaign what it was.
“Holyoke is not only the community I grew up in but it is who I am. I look forward to being an active member of my community and seeing where life takes me moving forward.
“I am eternally grateful to my family, my partner Michael Dodge, and all my friends, family and new friends I met that supported my campaign.”
He then went on to encourage residents to cast their vote to decide who the next mayor of Holyoke would be on Nov. 2. He also called the voter turnout “unacceptable.” He said, “Right now we have two candidates for mayor, I would encourage everyone to do your research and go out and vote.”
Glidden also issued a statement via Facebook statement. In his statement, he expressed that while he was disappointed with the outcome, he was grateful for those who supported him and for the opportunity to have been on the ballot. His statement read, in part, “We get involved in our democracy in the hope that our lives, messy and complicated as they can be, might be fruitful – that our small efforts might make life better for those with whom we share our time here on earth, and for those who will come after us. It’s a gift to participate in this process; it’s a gift to be part of the Holyoke family. I want to thank you all for hearing me out during this campaign and for allowing me to be part of your lives. Tomorrow, the work of building a just and generous Holyoke continues, and I’ll be honored to take up that work alongside you.”
Lisi’s statement echoed similar sentiments as she also expressed gratitude for those who stood beside her, as well as those who cast their vote for her. She said while she was disappointed by the loss, she was looking forward to what the future held for her. “There is some pain in reckoning with last night’s loss, but your words convey to me that you recognized and appreciated the deep and meaningful vision I cast for Holyoke’s future,” she said.
Her statement continued, “For 14 years, I have worked tirelessly to carve out a path forward for our city. That work was only compounded and accelerated during this mayoral campaign. In a post-COVID world, I found myself wondering many times about how we could sustain this work in a manner that brings life balance into these punctuated endeavors. I am excited by the opportunity to step back and reflect on these questions. I am looking forward to spending more time with my family, getting back to my yoga and meditation routines, and just being an active citizen of our city (instead of a title or preconceived entity.)”
In her statement, Caballero-Roca extended her congratulations to Sullivan and Garcia, as well as thanking those who supported her. She said, in part, “We made it through the campaign sending our message of radical love and I want to thank all of you for your support and contributions! I also want to congratulate the two finalists Mike Sullivan and Joshua Garcia, as well as the rest of the candidates for having made the city of Holyoke a spot in the political spectrum: the excitement of having had eight candidates and seven registered.”
Both Garcia and Sullivan, however, issued brief statements on social media, with Garcia saying, “Thank you Holyoke! Tonight we celebrate. Tomorrow we hit the ground running! Let’s win this on Nov. 2.” Sullivan simply said, “Time to go to work.”
When speaking to Reminder Publishing, Garcia said he was feeling “great,” but “can’t take any of this for granted.” He said in the days following the election his team’s focus had been “re-establishing relationships with folks that were on other campaigns,” and candidates that did not make it through the preliminary election. Garcia said he and his “core team” were working to put together a strategy as they continue to move forward with their campaign.
He said after winning the preliminary election he “was surprised and I wasn’t surprised.” He said, “We have some people on our team who are numbers people and had a strategy that worked. The results of the campaign are that these guys know what they’re talking about. Obviously, we were in it to win it. When we got in, that was the expectation.”
He continued, stating that his surprise came from the realization of what the victory meant. “The surprise, it was really I could be the next mayor of Holyoke.” Garcia called the experience “humbling” and said based on the voting results, he felt as though Holyoke residents were speaking about what they wanted.
“I think it sends a really strong message to everyone. Folks want responsible management, folks want representation, folks want unity,” he said. Garcia described himself as “a very different candidate” and said he felt as though his message separated him from other candidates in the race. “What separated me is the message, and the message wasn’t just focused on how to achieve new growth.” He said while that was important to discuss, he felt the real issue at hand for Holyoke was management.
“The clear issue in front of us is just simply management. If we don’t have our house in order, it’s difficult to achieve the management and the people I connected with, no matter what corner of the city, thought that made sense,” he said.
Garcia said while he couldn’t discredit the work Sullivan had done and the experience he had, they were different candidates. “I think that the people of Holyoke have two candidates in front of them, and I can’t discredit Mike Sullivan. We’re very different candidates with somewhat different ideas. We both love Holyoke, I can’t discredit the work he’s done and the families he’s helped. He’s helped people and so have I. We can share our resumes and all the candidates did as well,” he said. “My experience far exceeds Mike’s experience as far as what we need to do to achieve the objective ahead, management being the missing element.”
He went on to say that he felt a significant number of elements “involved in financial management and local government is a huge learning curve.” He said, “Learning curves get expensive, impacts the quality of services and impact the tax rate. That’s why people should vote for me, I can hit the ground running, understanding I have the ability to build relationships across the board.”
He continued and said he knew Sullivan had connections as well and those “are bonds I know I’m not going to penetrate.” He said, “I understand that, but we’re talking about this huge liability in front of us. If we’re not effectively managing it, it continues to deepen the quality of what’s going on in our community.”
In a statement to Reminder Publishing, Sullivan said he was happy with the results of the election and was excited to continue on the campaign trail. “I’m absolutely thrilled with the results of the primary. We knew it would be tough going in with so many great candidates, and I’m just very thankful to the people of Holyoke and thankful for my campaign committee. I've got a very dynamic and diverse group of supporters and they did a tremendous job,” he said. “We were able to celebrate a great win together and now we're back at work and I couldn't be more excited. This campaign is about bringing Holyoke back, creating good paying jobs, taking back control of our schools, investing in green energy and fixing our infrastructure. I am confident that by working together we will build a strong foundation and a bright future for everyone in Holyoke.
Whichever candidate receives the most votes in the Nov. 2 municipal election will go on to assume mayoral duties immediately. In a typical election year, the winning candidate would assume the role of mayor in January, however, due to former Mayor Alex Morse’s departure earlier in the year, city councilors and state Rep. Patricia Duffy worked with the state to avoid a special election by allowing the winning candidate to assume the role immediately following the November election.