HOLYOKE—Rebecca Lisi has not exactly been an insider. Yet, she is the candidate for mayor this year with the most experience in elected government—if fractional compared to some councilors seeking reelection.
NORTHBOUND ON INTERSTATE 91, Vt.—These days, highway travel, not constituent work, dominates outgoing Ward 4 Holyoke city councilor Jossie Valentin’s time. The Saturday before her successor would take office, she was leading Pioneer Valley supporters of US Senator Elizabeth Warren to New Hampshire on a
Holyoke will experience its first “midterm” election in 2019. It may be easy forget as he is running for something, but Alex Morse is not on the ballot this year. The four-term mayor is halfway through his first four-year mayoral term. But the City Council and much of the School Committee remain on a two-year election cycle. Voters rejected doubling councilors’ term in 2015 even as they lengthened the mayoral term to four years.
A pair of retirements in two Lower Valley cities announced Friday mark transition for their respective councils. The now-open positions in Holyoke and Springfield are both ward seats. and the outcome of neither’s election is likely to alter any balances of power. Rather, the significance