Candidate list for November election dominated by incumbents

Only four challengers will appear on the ballot to vie for City Council seats in November’s local elections.

All current ward councilors are running unopposed for their seats, and five of the nine candidates for councilor-at-large are also incumbents.

Three School Committee seats will also be on the ballot this fall, and four candidates are vying for those seats — half of which are sitting committee members.

The candidates’ list, which city election officials released Monday, is short enough that the city will not have to hold a preliminary election this year. 

Race specifics

The City Council has 15 members: one to represent each of Waltham’s nine wards and six councilors-at-large representing the city. 

This year 18 candidates are running for City Council seats.

All ward councilor seats are unchallenged this election cycle; only the incumbent is running for each ward. That means the candidate for Ward 1 is Anthony LaFauci; for Ward 2, Caren Dunn; for Ward 3, Bill Hanley; for Ward 4, John McLaughlin; for Ward 5, Joey LaCava; for Ward 6, Sean T. Durkee; for Ward 7, Paul S. Katz; for Ward 8, Cathyann Harris; and for Ward 9, Robert G. Logan.

Residents can find their ward through Waltham’s online ward map.

There are nine candidates running for the six councilor-at-large seats. All but one of the current councilors-at-large are seeking re-election; long-time Councilor-at-Large Thomas M. Stanley announced in April he would not be seeking re-election so he could focus on his role in the Statehouse.

The candidates for councilor-at-large are incumbents Colleen Bradley-MacArthur, Paul J. Brasco, Randall J. LeBlanc, Kathy McMenimen and Carlos A. Vidal as well as challengers Christina Curtin, Richard T. Hynes, Tim King and Emma Tzioumis.

Curtin, Hynes, King and Tzioumis would all be new to City Council — Hynes ran for mayor in 2015. Kind and Tzioumis ran for at-large city council seats in 2023. 

In the fall elections residents will also elect candidates to three of the School Committee’s six elected seats. There are four candidates running for those seats: incumbents Elizabeth Anne AlJammal and Debbie Coleman and new candidates Sabrina Shams DeJoannis and Tammy Wong-Bigelow. Current School Committee member John Frassica is not running for re-election this year.

The last date to file objections against any nomination, or for candidates to withdraw their nomination papers, is Friday, July 25. Each candidate’s ballot position will be determined July 30.

Waltham voters have until Oct. 25 to register to vote, which they can do via a portal on the Massachusetts Secretary of State website. The city’s elections are Nov. 4. 

CORRECTION POSTED JULY 28, 2025: Hynes ran for mayor only in 2015; there was no mayoral election in 2013. Hynes and Curtin did not run for at-large city council in 2023.