Before 1961, mayoral elections were partisan. Starting in 1961, they have been nonpartisan.
Terms had, originally, been for a length of a single year,[1] but were later extended to two years. Starting with the 2011 mayoral election, terms were extended further to four years.
The1953 Springfield, Massachusetts mayoral election was held on November 3, 1953. It saw incumbent mayorDaniel B. Brunton reelected to a fifth term.
The primaries marked the first instance in which the city of Springfield usedvoting machines in all of its precincts.[7] Turnout for the primaries was over 20%.[7]
Incumbent mayor Daniel B. Brunton ran unopposed in the Democratic primary. More than 7,000 voters cast votes in the non-competitive Democratic primary.[7]
In the Republican primary,Wendell P. Chamberlain (aMassachusetts state representative) defeated four candidates for the nomination. His competitors were ward 1 alderman Normand J. Beaudry, assessor Vernon E. Bradley (who had previously been the Republican nominee for mayor in 1951), ward 4 alderman and Springfield Board of Alderman president Henry Clay, and former school board member Theodore Wiel.[7]
1953 Springfield, Massachusetts mayoral Republican primary results[7] October 6, 1953
In the Democratic primary, incumbentDaniel B. Brunton facedHampden County registrar of deeds John P. Lynch and Springfield superintendent of streets James J. Sullivan.[8]
1955 Springfield, Massachusetts mayoral Democratic primary results[9] October 11, 1955
In the Republican primary, businessman and Springfield Fire Commission member Leon H. Hutchins defeated Board of Assessors member William G. Macauley.[8][9][10]
1955 Springfield, Massachusetts mayoral Republican primary results[9] October 11, 1955
The1957 Springfield, Massachusetts mayoral election was held on November 5, 1957. It saw incumbent mayor Daniel B. Brunton unseated, losing renomination in the Democratic primary toThomas J. O'Connor, who went on to win the general election.
O'Connor became the youngest mayor in the city's history.[11]
The1959 Springfield, Massachusetts mayoral election was held on November 3, 1959. It saw the reelection of incumbent mayorThomas J. O'Connor.
This was Springfield's final partisan mayoral election, as voters also voted to approve a move to nonpartisan elections.[14][15] The measure that did so also switched from aweak mayor form of government to astrong mayor form.[15]
In a rematch of the 1957 Democratic primary, incumbent mayorThomas J. O'Connor was challenged by former mayor Daniel B. Brunton. O'Connor handily defeated O'Connor, leading him in all 66 of the city's 68 voting precincts.[16]
Results
1959 Springfield, Massachusetts mayoral Democratic primary results[16] October 6, 1959
The1961 Springfield, Massachusetts mayoral election was held on November 7, 1961, and was preceded by a primary on October 10. It sawCharles Ryan defeat incumbent mayorThomas J. O'Connor. It was the city's first nonpartisan mayoral election
The 1960 reassessment of all real estate in Springfield led to a furor when one-third of the city's homeowners received increases in their property tax over the previous year.[21] On October 11, 1960, 4,500 residents attended a meeting atSpringfield Auditorium where members of the Board of Assessors attempted to explain the tax increase. Each member was booed off the stage before they could speak. O'Connor, who had no role in the property reassessment, failed to quiet the crowd and police were called in.[22] O'Connor planned to cut 578 jobs from the 1961 budget to reduce the city's taxes, but reversed this decision due to a lack of public support.[23]
O'Connor's general election defeat was considered anupset.[18]
Two weeks after O'Connor's loss, the city's percentage assessment system, which had been a major issue during the campaign, was declared unconstitutional by theMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.[24]
The1963 Springfield, Massachusetts mayoral election was held on November 6, 1963, and was preceded by a primary on October 8. It saw incumbent mayorCharles Ryan reelected.
Incumbent mayor Charles Ryan and registrar of deeds John P. Lynch were considered the two major contenders. A third candidate in the primary, Arthur R. Caney, was regarded as a political unknown.[26] Ryan and Lynch were the two who advanced to the general election.[26]
Both Lynch and Ryan identified asDemocrats.[27] Ryan's campaign was managed by his brother, Donald Ryan.[27]
The campaign turned tense when, eight days before the general election, Lynch accused Ryan of being an advocate ofbusing, bringing a racially-charged issue into the mix.[27] The day before the election, in a television appearance, Ryan alleged that bussing had already started, and that Ryan had approved it.[27] On the day of the election, theSpringfield Union ran two full-paged advertisements which showedblack children departingschool buses at Memorial School in the fashionable, and largelywhite, East Forest Park neighborhood. The ads, again claimed that Ryan had begun busing in the city.[27] Ryan responded by making a series of radio appearances on Election Day. In one he claimed that the photos actually were showing black children that had been transported to the school, not for the sake ofracial integration, but due to overcrowding at schools in parts of the cities that were predominantly black.[27] He also came out against using bussing to resolve de facto segregation.[27]
The1965 Springfield, Massachusetts mayoral election was held on November 2, 1965, and was preceded by a primary on October 4. It saw the reelection ofCharles Ryan to a third term.
The primary, held October 4, had been moved from its original date of October 5. Unusually, this made Election Day a Monday instead of a Tuesday. The change of date was made to avoid the election overlapping with the Jewish holiday ofYom Kippur.[28]
In the general election Ryan faced state representative and Springfield city councilor James Grimaldi. He faced several additional candidates in the primary.[29] In the primary, Charles E. Cobb was the firstblack candidate to run for mayor in the city's history.[29] Frances L. Shea was among the earliest women to run for Springfield's mayoralty.[29]
A major issue in the campaign was how to resolve inequality in the quality of the schools buildings serving the city's largely non-white neighborhoods compared those serving its largely-white neighborhoods.[28][29] Mayor Ryan proposed limited open enrollment, and hoped for the state to pay for the expense ofbusing. He felt that black groups had failed to assist in making open enrollment successful in the city. Grimaldi hoped to resolve these inequalities by replacing the city's older school buildings, many of which were located in largely black neighborhoods.[29] Rojer J. Lemelin pledged to follow state's racial imbalance law.[29] Charles E. Cobb argued that students at Buckingham Junior High School (a 63.2% non-white school) were 2.5 years behind students atjunior high schools with predominantly white student bodies. He argued against open enrollment, saying that it asked, "the very people least able to pay" to personally finance their children's transportation.[29] Frances L. Shea promised to follow the state's racial imbalance law, but argued that, "all laws are flexible and we should make them fit our situation".[29]
While the election was officially nonpartisan, Freeman was aRepublican and Grimaldi was aDemocrat.[33][32] Freedman became the city's first Jewish mayor. If elected, Grimaldi would have been its first Italian mayor.[32]
The1969 Springfield, Massachusetts mayoral election was held on November 4, 1969, and was preceded by a primary held on October 7, 1969. It saw the reelection ofFrank Harlan Freedman.
Democratic state representative James Grimaldi was a late entrant into the race.[35]
Frederick Hurst's performance in the primary was regarded to have been surprisingly poor. He was one of the earliest black candidates to run for mayor of Springfield.[35]
Freedman's reelection in the general election was aided by popular approval of how he had recently handled a public transitstrike and welfare-related protests.[34]
The1971 Springfield, Massachusetts mayoral election was held on November 2, 1971, and was preceded by a primary on October 5, 1971. It saw the reelection ofFrank Harlan Freedman to a third term.
The1973 Springfield, Massachusetts mayoralspecial election was held on January 30, 1973, to fill the vacancy left afterFrank Harlan Freedman resigned as mayor in October 1972 to accept an appointment as aU.S. district court judge.[41] The election saw the election of William C. Sullivan.
Paul Mason was only the thirdblack candidate to run for mayor in the city's history. He openly regarded his candidacy as more an effort to build up a following to help him run more successfully for the office two years later.[41]
The1973 Springfield, Massachusetts mayoral election was held on November 6, 1973. It saw the reelection of incumbent William C. Sullivan (first elected earlier that year in a special election) to his first full term.
Because only two candidates ran, there was no need for a primary election.
The1975 Springfield, Massachusetts mayoral election was held on November 4, 1975, and was preceded by a primary on October 5, 1975. It saw the reelection of William C. Sullivan to a second full, and third overall, term.
The1977 Springfield, Massachusetts mayoral election was held on November 8, 1977, and was preceded by a primary on October 11. It saw the election of Theodore E. Dimauro. Incumbent mayor William C. Sullivan did not seek reelection.[19]
Theodore E. Dimauro, Springfield City Council president,[47] Springfield city councilor since 1970,[19] member of theMassachusetts Governor's Council since 1975,[47][48] former acting mayor (1972–1973), and former Springfield School Committee member[19]
Winston Gaskins
James L. Grimaldi,Massachusetts state representative since 1965, former Springfield city councilor; 1965, 1967, 1969 and 1971 mayoral candidate
Wallace Hindes (write-in)
William Kelly
John P. Lynch,Hampden County registrar of deeds since 1952,[19]1972 United States Senate candidate;[19] 1955, 1961 and 1963 mayoral candidate
Theodore E. Dimauro campaigned on revitalizing the city's downtown, and talked about pursuing furtherpublic-private partnerships to accomplish this.[47]
James L. Grimaldi, an experienced elected official (with 12 years experience on the Springfield City Council and 13 years experience in the Massachusetts House of Representatives) had long aspired to be Springfield's mayor, having run four times previously.[47] By 1977, Grimaldi was 66 years of age, and likely saw the election as his last chance to win the city's mayoralty.[47] He campaigned hard against Dimauro, accusing him of being a puppet for big business, of valuing the city's downtown at the expense of the remainder of the city, and criticizing him for his vote as a member of the Massachusetts Governor's Council to confirm ablack woman to be an associate justice of theBoston Municipal Court.[47]
With both Dimauro and Grimaldi being Italian-Americans, the general election matchup guaranteed that the city would elect its first mayor of Italian descent.[47]
The1979 Springfield, Massachusetts mayoral election was held on November 6, 1979, and was preceded by a primary on October 9, 1979. It saw the reelection of Theodore Dimauro to a second term.
The1981 Springfield, Massachusetts mayoral election was held on November 3, 1981, and was preceded by a primary on October 6, 1981. It saw the reelection of Theodore Dimauro to a third term.
The1983 Springfield, Massachusetts mayoral election was held on November 3, 1983, and was preceded by a primary on September 20, 1983. It saw the election ofRichard Neal.
Facing a prospective challenge from city councilor Richard Neal, incumbent mayor Theodore Dimauro opted to instead retire.[55]
The1989 Springfield, Massachusetts mayoral special election was held on April 25, 1989, and was preceded by a primary on March 21, 1989. It was held to fill the vacancy left after mayorRichard Neal resigned to become aU.S. congressman.[60] The election saw the election of the city's first female mayorMary Hurley, who defeated acting mayor Vincent MiMonaco.[60]
In his brief period as acting mayor, DiMonaco had taken a tough stance on drugs, and expressed criticism of what he deemed to be "insufficient" financial support coming from the state and federal governments. He also, with 18 years experience on the City Council and prior experience on the Springfield School Committee, made an effort to portray himself as the more experienced candidate[61]
Hurley accused DiMonaco of "flip-flopping" on various issues, such as whether theNational Guard should be used to fight against illegal drugs in the city, which he had previously advocated for, but since walked back his support for.[61]
DiMonaco accused Hurley of receiving the back of a Richard Neal-ledpolitical machine. Neal, however, remained publicly neutral in the election, and questioned DiMonaco's assertion that a political machine existed in the city.[62]
Hurley raised $240,000 for her campaign, almost five times as much as DiMonaco managed to raise for his.[60] This fundraising advantage enabled her to run a last-minute battery of television advertisements.[60]
The1989 Springfield, Massachusetts mayoral election was held on November 7, 1989, and saw the reelection of incumbent mayorMary Hurley (first elected earlier that year in a special election) to her first full term.[64]
The1991 Springfield, Massachusetts mayoral election was held on November 5, 1991, and was preceded by a primary on September 24, 1991. It saw the election ofRobert Markel.
Incumbent mayorMary Hurley did not seek reelection, announcing in February that she would not be running, to focus her attention on the city'sbudget problems.[65][66] Hurleys' mayoralty had been beset by problems by this time, including wrangling withunions in the prior year.[66][67]
A major issue of the campaign ahead of the primary election was the problem of "white flight" to the city's suburbs.[66]
Thefrontrunners ahead of the primary election were broadly considered to be Ray DiPasquale, Robert Markel, and Paul Kalill.[68]
As a candidate, Markel advocated for increasing the amount of fees for city services and increasing the enforcement of city codes.[68] Kalill called for a "clean sweep" of politicians in city government.[68]
Benjamin Swan was a first-time candidate for elected office.[68]
The1993 Springfield, Massachusetts mayoral election was held on November 2, 1993, and was preceded by a primary on September 21, 1993. It saw the reelection of incumbent mayorRobert Markel.
Merkel took credit for restoring services previously cut in past budgets.[73] Walsh argued that Markel had been neglecting towards public safety.[73] Swan said that safety, education, and employment were the top issues in the city.[73]
The1995 Springfield, Massachusetts mayoral election was held on November 7, 1995, and was preceded by a primary on September 19, 1995. It saw the election of mayorMichael Albano, who unseated incumbent mayorRobert Markel. Markel placed third in the primary, thereby failing to make the general election.
Expected to be a central issue to voters in the general election was whether Springfield would receive acasino or not. A year prior, voters had rejected areferendum to allow casinos in the city. However, a new nonbondingballot initiative was up for a vote coinciding with the mayoral general election, which, if approved, would show citizen approval for building a casino in the city's downtown. Albano supported passing the initiative, while Ryan opposed it.[76][77] The issue dominated the campaign.[77][78] In the end, however, despite the voters voting against the ballot initiative, Albano (who had supported it) beat Ryan (who had opposed it).[79]
The1997 Springfield, Massachusetts mayoral election was held on November 4, 1997. It saw the reelection of incumbent mayorMichael Albano, who was running uncontested.
The1999 Springfield, Massachusetts mayoral election was held on November 2, 1999. It saw the reelection of incumbent mayorMichael Albano, running uncontested, to a third term.[82] Because Albano had no opponent, critics of his administration ran Simon, the dog of a prominent activist, as a write-in candidate. Not being human, the votes of Simon were not recorded, but was rumored to be in the hundreds.
The2001 Springfield, Massachusetts mayoral election was held on November 6, 2001, and was preceded by a primary on September 25, 2001. It saw the reelection of incumbent mayorMichael Albano to a fourth term.
The2003 Springfield, Massachusetts mayoral election was held on November 4, 2003. It saw former three-term mayorCharles Ryan returned to office for a fourth non-consecutive term.
The2005 Springfield, Massachusetts mayoral election was held on November 8, 2005, and saw the reelection of incumbent mayorCharles Ryan reelected to a second consecutive, and fifth overall, term as mayor.
The2007 Springfield, Massachusetts mayoral election was held on November 6, 2007. It sawDomenic Sarno unseat incumbent mayorCharles Ryan.
When announcing his candidacy for reelection, Ryan had declared that he intended this to be his final campaign for mayor.[92] At the age of 79, he was the oldest mayor in the state at the time he announced his reelection campaign in April.[93]
Since only two candidates ran, no primary was held.
The2011 Springfield, Massachusetts mayoral election was held on November 8, 2011, and was preceded by a primary on September 20, 2011. Incumbent mayorDomenic Sarno won reelection to a second term.
This was the first election to a four-year mayoral term, Springfield voters had, in 2009, approved a change to the city's charter which extended the mayor's term in office from two to four years.[101]
This was the first time since 2001 that more than two candidates ran, which triggered a primary election.[102][75]
Both Tosado and Pepe were considered to be high-profile and politically experienced challengers to Sarno.[75] Nevertheless, Sarno heavily led both in the primary, and handily defeated Tosado in the general election.
The2015 Springfield, Massachusetts mayoral election was held on November 3, 2015, and was preceded by a primary on September 8, 2015. Incumbent mayorDomenic Sarno won reelection to a third term.
Salvatore S. Circosta, member of Springfield Community Policing Board, business manager of aCatholic church, former business owner, formerseminarian, formermilitary chaplain, candidate for Springfield City Council in 2013[105][106][107]
Salvatore S. Circosta waspolitically conservative, closely tying his candidacy with hisCatholicism.[105] Early into his candidacy, Circosta publicly disclosed that he was agay man.[105] Circosta described himself as conservative on issues such as abortion rights and financial matters, but "progressive" on some issues such asgay rights.[105]
The2019 Springfield, Massachusetts mayoral election was held on November 5, 2019, and was preceded by a primary on September 10, 2019. It was held in the city ofSpringfield, Massachusetts, United States. Incumbent mayorDomenic Sarno won reelection to a fourth term.
By virtue of winning reelection to his fourth term, Sarno became poised to be the city's longest-serving mayor.[111]
The2023 Springfield Massachusetts mayor election was held on November 7, 2023, and was preceded by a primary on September 12, 2023. IncumbentDomenic Sarno won reelection to a fifth term.
Nik DeCosta-Klipa ofWBUR described Domenic Sarno as a relative "old-school, centrist Democrat" and his opponents as challenging him from thepolitical left. He also described this as the largest field of prominent challengers that Sarno has faced for mayor.[115]
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Primary Election Precinct Results
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