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Date: 9/20/2022
SPRINGFIELD – Lavar Click-Bruce defeated former Vice Chair of the Board of Trustees at University of Massachusetts Edward Collins Jr. in the Ward 5 special election on Sept. 13.
The Ward 5 City Council seat was vacated after former City Council President Marcus Williams announced his sudden resignation on May 31. In the past, the City Council appointed new members when seats became vacant. For the last open council seat, the council appointed Gumersindo Gomez in 2021 to take over for state Sen. Adam Gomez’s Ward 1 position after the former councilor joined the state legislator.
Thanks to a home rule petition from state Rep. Angelo Puppolo, the council received the authority to host a special election for Ward 5. Gov. Charlie Baker signed the petition into law on May 16.
In the primary, Click-Bruce and Collins gained over 300 votes each as they moved on to the final election. The two candidates faced off against Communications Director of the Women’s Funding Network Ellen Moorhouse, 2021 City Council at-large candidate Mike Lee, former City Council and School Committee candidate Lamar Cook, Assistant Director of the Center for Service and Leadership at Springfield College Nicole Coakley and local coach Edward Green.
For the final election, Click-Bruce secured 653 votes, or roughly 52 percent, of the votes cast, while Collins earned 609, or 48 percent of the vote. The 1,268 votes represented a turnout of 8.5 percent – a slight decrease from the 1,424 votes cast during the Ward 5 primary on Aug. 16. The Ward 5 area features 14,826 registered voters.
Collins reflected on the narrow defeat shortly after the results came in.
“I lost by 44 votes. It couldn’t have been much closer, but I know that we gave it our best,” said Collins via social media.
After hearing the news, Click-Bruce said he felt elated to secure the seat after a grueling three-month campaign process.
“It was an exhale … All the hard work that I work towards to that moment and hearing the official word that we won, I just exhaled and was really just thankful,” said Click-Bruce in an interview with Reminder Publishing.
Click-Bruce received support from Mayor Domenic Sarno, state Rep. Bud Williams and City Council President Jesse Lederman during his election-night event at Marlee’s Bar and Grill. After the results came in, Lederman expressed his congratulations for Click-Bruce.
“The City Council is the closest elected body to the people. I know that Lavar understands that. … When it comes time to take a seat in the chamber, we will all be united together for Springfield,” said Lederman.
Click-Bruce previously worked as an aide in the Sarno administration – a position from which he has since resigned in the aftermath of the election. He also worked as an administrative assistant to the City Council and coached basketball at the Springfield High School of Commerce.
Click-Bruce ran a grassroots campaign that consisted of door-to-door canvassing. For his legislative platform, Click-Bruce shared that increasing youth development offerings and enhancing public safety within the ward are paramount objectives. He said he would advocate to Police Superintendent Cheryl Clapprood for a C3 police station to be implemented in the Sixteen Acres area.
“Other areas are represented with C3 policing, but I think that it’s very important that we have representation within our ward with those police officers,” said Click-Bruce.
Click-Bruce debuted with the City Council during their Sept. 19 meeting. The newly named councilor said he looks forward to representing his constituents across the city.
“It’s important that our constituents throughout the city have someone to bring their concerns or good things too … I will make sure that their voices are being heard,” said Click-Bruce.