2 min read

The Westbrook Republican Committee announced candidates for City Council and School Committee seats selected by caucus last week, putting the upcoming November election in focus.

The Republican nominee for the city councilor at-large seat is John O’Hara, the incumbent who has held the post for almost two decades. He will face Democrat Michael Dobkowski, who is the president of Glacial Multimedia in Westbrook.

For City Council Ward 3, Sue Rossignol is the Republican nominee. She will square off against Democratic newcomer Anna Turcotte. The city’s former finance director, Rossignol ran unsuccessfully in 2013 for the Ward 4 seat won by Gary Rairdon. The Ward 3 seat is currently held by Democrat Paul Emery, who was not chosen as the nominee in caucus. Last week, Emery said he will be running for Ward 3 as a third candidate. In May, Emery was urged to resign from the City Council following controversial remarks he made referring to Gov. Paul LePage.

Neither Republicans nor Democrats named people to run against Rairdon, an independent candidate.

For the Westbrook School Committee, Republicans picked only a nominee for the at-large seat, Matt Brunner. Last week, Democrats named three of four incumbents running for re-election, including Sue Salisbury for at-large, Veronica Bates in Ward 2, and Jim Violette in Ward 5.

All seats will be three-year terms, expiring in 2018. Leading up to the caucuses, Westbrook City Clerk Angela Holmes said there has been some confusion over term limits, owing to the city’s charter change in 2012 that staggered term limits. In the 2013 election, some seats were for two-year terms in order to stagger elections.

“After this election, every council and School Committee seat will be on the proper cycle, and will keep this pattern unless the charter is changed in the future,” she said in an email this week.

Following this year’s election, the November 2016 ballot will include the remaining at-large City Council seat, and council wards 1, 2, and 5. It was also feature races for the at-large, Ward 3, and Ward 4 school committee seats.

Nomination papers for this November’s election are due by 5 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 21.

Comments are no longer available on this story