Barrett Becomes Haverhill’s First Woman Elected Mayor; Election Brings New Faces at all Levels

By Marc Lemay.

You can call her Mayor-Elect Melinda E. Barrett.

On Tuesday, the 10-year city councilor defeated Guy E. Cooper for the seat in the corner office of City Hall. Barrett received 7,038 votes to Cooper’s 3,024 votes in unofficial results. In her acceptance speech to supporters, she reflected on the overall movement that not only brought her into office by a more than 2-1 margin, but also swept in a record number of women to other offices and brought a change in the system of local government.

“It’s a happy night for Haverhill—A new day with a new Council and new School Committee, ward representation. It is time for change,” she said.

Barrett made history last night by being elected as the first female mayor of the city. She said she plans on including more people in the process.

“I love this city. If you know me, you know I love this city so much. And I know we can do so much better and include so many more people in our discussions and in our committees. And by including more people, it doesn’t exclude anybody. It just opens it up a little more.”

Barrett’s victory party at Maria’s in downtown Haverhill brought many other victors, including Ward 2 City Councilor-elect Katrina Hobbs-Everett, Ward 1 School Committee member-elect Erica Diaz who ran a write-in campaign with no contenders on the ballot and Ward 6 School Committee member-elect Yonnie Collins.

Other new faces in city government include Ward 1 City Councilor-elect Ralph T. Basiliere, Ward 3 City Councilor-elect Devan M. Ferreira, Ward 3 School Committee member-elect Cheryl A. Ferguson, Ward 4 School Committee member-elect Mikaela D. Lalumiere, Ward 5 School Committee member-elect Jill Taylor Story and Ward 7 School Committee member-elect Thomas Grannemann.

Just over 10,000 votes were cast in the election, with nearly 21% of the registered voters casting their ballots.

See full unofficial election results.

Campaign	Totals	1-1	1-2	1-3	2-1	2-2	2-3	3-1	3-2	3-3	4-1	4-2	4-3	5-1	5-2	5-3	6-1	6-2	6-3	7-1	7-2	7-2A	7-3
Mayor	0
Barrett, Melinda E.	7038	81	153	210	394	422	139	195	188	198	419	548	429	359	388	531	276	441	434	358	219	54	602
Cooper, Guy E.	3024	38	72	89	105	133	48	55	64	64	207	285	239	191	206	291	184	149	180	106	104	30	184
Write-ins	66			3	4	3	2	2	2		7	7	3	1	2	5	2	14	3	1			5
Blanks	0
City Council-At Large	0
Sullivan, Thomas J.	6418	81	154	196	329	360	126	172	165	161	405	532	402	329	374	541	288	424	404	289	187	60	439
LePage, Colin F.	4970	49	105	138	244	262	91	110	110	109	286	418	348	274	301	424	237	289	321	218	201	41	394
Simmons, Fred A.	3850	45	100	113	181	181	68	117	114	98	236	314	258	213	201	328	201	229	267	162	123	28	273
Michitson, John A.	6508	68	139	182	332	353	106	156	170	154	415	535	452	345	389	553	301	402	415	281	185	54	521
Jordan, Timothy J.	6189	52	115	172	361	367	99	152	145	143	369	519	389	300	383	474	280	389	380	300	208	52	540
write in	100		1	2	5	3	4	2	2	2	5	18	9	3	8	6	3	2	5	4	5		11
City Council Ward 1
Basiliere, Ralph T.	412	69	136	207
Veras, Alexander Robert	175	43	65	67
write in	3	1	1	1
City Council Ward 2
Sapienza-Donais, Toni	371				163	161	47
Hobbs Everett, Katrina E.J.	816				311	368	137
					4	2	1
City Council Ward 3
Ferreira, Devan M.	593							206	193	194
write in								1	2	2
City Council Ward 4
Quimby, Kenneth E.	625										193	235	197
Lewandowski, Melissa J.	1390										403	549	438
												5	3
City Council Ward 5
Toohey, Shaun P.	1125													324	329	472
Morales, Michael	778													205	248	325
														1	1	1
City Council Ward 6
McGonagle, Michael S.	990																260	318	412
Aguilo, Oliver	594																165	255	174
																	3	1	1
City Council Ward 7
Rogers, Catherine P.	1254																			364	255	65	570
																				10	6	3	15
School Committee Ward 1
Diaz, Erica (write-in)	0
write in		29	42	44
School Committee Ward 2
Sullivan, Gail M.	846				345	379	122
Sapienza-Donais, Toni	316				122	138	56
					5	4	1
School Committee Ward 3
Dilonex, Liliana	283							125	78	80
Ferguson, Cheryl A.	329							80	125	124
write in								6	2	8
School Committee Ward 4
Lalumiere, Mikaela D.	1374										402	518	454
Simmons, Fred A.	552										160	228	164
											5	5	3
School Committee Ward 5
Story, Jill Taylor	1209													305	384	520
Hickey, Lynette	584													205	161	218
														1	3	3
School Committee Ward 6
Pfeil, Chad	565																140	188	237
Collins, Yonnie	922																264	344	314
																	3	5	1
School Committee Ward 7
Grannemann, Thomas W.	1011																			277	163	52	519
Rogers, Hunter Price	529																			165	133	22	209
																				2	2	2	5
Ballot Questions
Question 1: YES Simultaneously holding	8310	90	184	245	404	466	131	207	196	225	516	692	522	444	517	690	374	477	511	389	269	64	697
Question 1: NO Simultaneously holding	1296	19	27	49	66	68	41	24	43	33	74	118	103	72	54	89	63	90	73	59	43	17	71
Question 2: Yes Limit on running	8588	93	192	249	420	490	140	207	198	216	548	704	571	454	541	707	384	481	531	404	286	65	707
Question 2: No Limit on running	1172	18	23	42	65	46	40	24	41	43	63	98	77	77	46	93	60	95	68	48	27	18	60