Pamela Wright has won her first term to the City Council, beating Jim Cote by over 500 votes. Andrea Kelley wins a second term and looks like the top City Council vote-getter in the city.
- Kelley — 8174
- Wright — 6129
- Cote — 5453
Councilor Kelley won her first term in 2017, beating now Councilor-elect Julie Malakie to fill Ted Hess-Mahan’s open seat. Councilor Cote was first elected unopposed to replace Greer Tan Swiston and then won two contested races.
Congrats to Pamela Wright.
Jim, I voted for you! We didn’t always agree, but I found you to be fair and honorable.
Jim Cote, thanks for your help to the Franklin Elementary community and your service to West Newton in general. You earned my vote and my respect. The personal connections you made might not have been attention getting, but they served our ward well.
You listened and you helped. You were there. Thank you.
Jim–you stood with our neighborhood in a tough fight. Thanks for your service.
I really appreciate Jim Cote and hope he will look for opportunities to stay involved in our city politic. His transparency and good humor were
very appealing qualities in a city official.
I have mad respect for councilor Cote- never have I seen a colleague work so hard to bridge the gaps. He will be missed.
Brenda,
One of the surprises of watching so many debates is how much I enjoyed Councilor Cote. He seems like a very decent guy.
I didn’t vote for him, but this is probably the biggest surprise of the election to me.
A huge loss for the city. Jim is truly a model public servant and I hope we haven’t seen the last of him.
Never saw that coming.
Jim Cote was a good councilor who had an ability to reach across disparate groups of voters. I’m sorry to see him lose. Congratulations to Pamela Wright I hope you can do the same.
I have a deep respect for Jim though don’t always see eye to eye. He is passionate, hard working and actually COMMUNICATES with his constituents. I will miss his service to ward 3 and I hope we haven’t heard the last of him. Very surprised at this outcome
Looks like Newton voters didn’t want any republicans and or independent thinkers in the mayors office, city council, school committee. Looks like all Democrats in every city leadership position so it will be interesting to see how things go
@ Andrew Bombara – Yes, I do think its unfortunate that we have no elected Republicans on City Council or School Committee. I think much of the blame for that may lead back to the Republican City Committee’s leadership. I think Tom Mountain’s years long barrage of incendiary Op-Eds tying Newton Republicans to the worst parts of today’s national Republican party haven’t been a help for local Newton Republicans running for office.
Massachusetts has historically been a breeding ground for moderate Republicans – fiscally conservative, socially liberal pragmatists who do just fine in our very Democratic state -see Charlie Baker. That’s not what the Newton Republican City Committee has been peddling under Tom Mountain’s leadership. I think the results show at the polls.
BTW – I would definitely put Jim Cote firmly in that category of pragmatic Republican that has always been the strength of Mass Republicans. I’m sorry to see him go.
I will miss Councilor Cote. We had our moments both wanting a better and safer West Newton Square, disagreeing a little on what would be the safest. But no doubt he took the role of city councilor seriously and somehow could make you laugh a little even when you disagreed with him. When I reached out to him after deciding to run, he happily met with me and shared his thoughts on Newton. He will be missed at City Hall.
“Looks like Newton voters didn’t want any republicans and or independent thinkers in the mayors office, city council, school committee.”
Andrew, are you insinuating that Democrats and progressive cannot be “independent thinkers?”