Worcester has a nonpartisan election system for its city council, and the actual registrations of the members matter little. Only a single member, Donna Colorio, is a Republican, while all the rest are Democrats. Nonetheless, each election cycle, the various members assemble into different blocs.
There has been a consistent governing bloc that governs the city based on pragmatic solutions to the problems that trouble the city. Opposing them has been a populist grouping that traffics in demonization and outrage more than in actual governance.
The governing coalition includes Mayor Joseph Petty, Kate Toomey, Moe Bergman, George Russell (stepping down), and Candy Mero-Carlson (District 2). Even Donna Colorio, the sole Republican, has, despite partisan differences, been able to work with her Democratic colleagues in the governing group.
The populists are led by Etel Haxhiaj (District 5) and Thu Nguyen (who stopped showing up to council meetings months ago). Khrystian King, currently running for mayor, seems to have fully aligned himself with the populists.
It is important that the populists do not pick up any more seats and that, if possible, they be further marginalized. Where they put forward policies, they are often very bad, and when they do not get their way, they are often destructive.
A policy example: One of the biggest issues in the city currently is housing shortage. The Petty-led governing coalition has pushed through more than 6,700 new units of housing in recent years, and more are in the works. This approach, building up supply so that it meets demand, is slow – but it is the only solution. The Haxhiaj grouping is pushing instead forms of rent control. While this is unlikely to ever become policy, it would, if enacted, end Worcester’s housing boom, deepening the current housing shortage.
Where they don’t get their way – even on entirely symbolic matters – the populists cause chaos. They staged a chaotic demonstration reminiscent of Jan. 6, shutting down a city council meeting over a (bad) resolution on Israel/Palestine, claiming they only wanted to let the “community” have their “voice heard.”
The populists seem to be intentionally misrepresenting people’s positions on the issues. During a fight over anti-abortion “crisis pregnancy centers,” they implied strongly that the governing coalition was against women’s health. In reality, Petty, Carlson, and the others – nearly all of whom have long been pro-choice – merely recognized that the city has little authority over the clinics under state and federal law.
When Worcester police intervened between ICE agents and enraged community members – to prevent Worcester from becoming the center of a standoff with federal agents – Haxhiaj and the others accused Petty, who only a few years earlier, led a demonstration in support of Worcester’s immigrant community, as being secretly MAGA. (Worcester’s MAGA representatives vehemently disagree.)
Over and over, the Haxhiaj populists demonize their opponents and bring chaos to city council meetings, sometimes even shutting down the work of governing altogether. They do this in exactly the same way, though under a different partisan banner, as former city council member Michael Gaffney did years ago.
For those reasons, I voted for the following candidates – and urge you to do the same;
- Mayor: Joe Petty
- District 2: Candy Mero-Carlson – her opponent seems like a nice enough guy, but he is fully aligned with the populist clique. Mero-Carlson, on the other hand, has played a big part in beginning to alleviate the housing shortage.
- District 5: (I don’t vote here, but it’s an important race) Jose Rivera – there are a lot of things that I don’t agree with him on, but he can be reasoned with and will not lead a mob to storm the city council)
- At large: Joe Petty (you have to vote for him on both the mayoral and at-large lines)
- At large: Moe Bergman
- At large: Kate Toomey
Those are the candidates that I think are an absolute must. Other good at-large choices are Jermoh Kamara. She’s a progressive seemingly unaligned with the populists and who is serious about policy. It is important that both parties be represented, so a vote for Donna Colorio makes sense. I think everyone loves Gary Rosen (he gave me an extra dessert at the Worcester East Middle Honor Society induction ceremony when I was a kid, so I definitely do), and Satya Mitra is impressive.
You can vote for up to six candidates at large – but not more.
I have not been able to become particularly well informed about the other district races, so I won’t say anything else about them except that Luis Ojeda in District 4 seems to deserve another term.
Image: J.C.G. – “Chaos” vs. “Order.” Generated using an AI prompt. Thoughts on the use of AI? Email me at the address on the site.
