Race is on for Portland council, school board seats - pressherald.com

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This fall, voters will be electing three new city councilors as incumbents Nick Mavodones, Belinda Ray and Spencer Thibodeau are not seeking reelection.

That doesn’t mean there won’t be some familiar names on the Nov. 2 ballot. Two sitting Portland Board of Education members are looking to join the council, as is the chairman of the city’s Planning Board and a former state legislator and city councilor.

Four individuals are running for the seat being vacated by Mavodones, who has served on the City Council for close to 25 years: School board member Roberto Rodriguez; Travis Curran, who ran for mayor in 2019; Planning Board Chairman Brandon Mazer; and attorney Stuart Tisdale Jr.

Two individuals are vying for Thibodeau’s District 2 seat: Victoria Pelletier, a special project coordinator for Greater Portland Council of Governments; and Jon Hinck, a former state representative who served on the Portland City Council from 2013-2016. Thibodeau, who joined the council in 2016, took out nomination papers, but ultimately decided against running for a third term.

Ray is also foregoing a third term. Her District 1 seat is being pursued by school board member Anna Trevorrow and Bayside Neighborhood Association President Sarah Michniewicz.

There will be much less competition for the open school board seats, as all the incumbents are running again. District 1 school board representative Abdusana “Micky” Bondo is not facing a challenger in a bid for another term, and District 2 representative and current chairperson, Emily Figdor, is running unopposed for a second term on the board.

At-large school board member Sarah Thompson, who has been serving on the board for close to 15 years, is being challenged by Nyalat Biliew, who finished third in a three-way race for an at-large seat last November.

Charles Shattuck-Heidorn is facing no opposition for a five-year term on the Portland Water District Board of Trustees and Peter McLaughlin has no challenger for a full three-year term on the Peaks Island Council.

The field running for office this November may get a little bigger. The deadline for individuals to declare themselves as write-in candidates is Friday, Sept. 3.

The election takes place Nov. 2. Polling locations, which can be found online on the city clerk’s website, open at 7 a.m. and close at 8 p.m.

For more information about the election, including how to request an absentee ballot, visit portlandmaine.gov/1116/November-Municipal-Election.

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