Multiple fresh faces to join City Council and School Committee in 2026

Waltham voters chose to welcome two challengers to City Council in Tuesday’s local election, ousting Kathy McMenimen from her councilor-at-large seat. McMenimen, the first woman elected to City Council, held her position for nearly 50 years. 

In a race dominated by incumbents, new challengers also managed to secure two seats on the School Committee, bumping out incumbent Liz AlJammal.

Polls for the municipal election closed at 8 p.m., and the City Clerk’s office announced preliminary results shortly before 9:30 p.m. 

Colleen Bradley-MacArthur, Randall J. LeBlanc, Tim King, Emma Tzioumis, Carlos Vidal and Paul J. Brasco won Waltham’s six councilor-at-large seats, beating out McMeniman and challengers Christina Curtin and Richard T. Hynes.

Bradley-MacArthur came out at the top of the pack, with 4,243 votes — approximately 11% of all registered Waltham voters.

All winning challengers were voted in by at least 9% of registered voters.

As the clerk’s office finished tabulating the results, sitting and future city councilors celebrated their victories in restaurants and bars around the city.

“We’re very happy about the win. Today we’re celebrating, but tomorrow we’re going to start the work for the city,” said King, who had the third-highest vote count in the councilor-at-large race. He thanked friends and family for their support, and he congratulated other candidates for running good campaigns. 

In the School Committee elections, voters elected challengers Sabrina DeJoannis and Tammy Wong-Bigelow as well as incumbent Debbie Coleman to the committee’s three open positions.

Wong-Bigelow in an Instagram post said, “I am beyond words right now. I appreciate everyone who voted for me, hosted a meet and greet, hosted a yard sign, canvassed on my behalf and made phone calls.”

McMenimen told The Waltham Times that although losing the election is a personal disappointment, she respects the election’s results. “I love Waltham, and I love the people. The people have spoken, and so I’m going to do what the people have told me,” McMenimen said.

As someone who has been “on the winning and losing side” of Waltham elections, Brasco expressed his sympathy for his colleague’s loss. “The institutional knowledge that was lost with Councilor McMenimen is difficult but understandable,” Brasco said.

AlJammal, who was first elected to School Committee in 2017, said that it has been “an honor and a privilege” to serve Waltham and its students in an email statement to The Waltham Times. “Even though tonight’s results are not what I had wished for, I will continue to be a champion for Waltham Public Schools and look forward to celebrating the achievements that lie ahead for the district,” she wrote.

As a new figure in Waltham politics, Curtin said that despite her loss in the councilor-at-large race, she felt good about the results of the election and thanked her family and friends for their work on the campaign trail. “I’ll just keep going forward, keep participating, keep getting involved and see what happens in two years,” she said.

Approximately 19% of voters came out to vote, which is lower than other recent municipal elections in Waltham. Across the commonwealth, local elections tend to see significantly lower turnout than federal elections, but in 2021 — Waltham’s last municipal election without a mayoral race — turnout was just under 22%, at the time the lowest Waltham had seen in a decade.

Turnout was highest in wards 4 and 7, which saw turnout numbers of approximately 24% and 25% of voters, respectively. wards 8 and 5 saw the fewest voters, at approximately 15% and 17%.

All candidates for ward councilor seats this election cycle were unchallenged incumbents and won reelection, although some received a higher percentage of the vote; voters turned out in the largest numbers to reelect their councilors in wards 3, 4, and 7.

Mayor Jeannette A. McCarthy, who was waiting with election workers for results at 260 Grove St., told The Waltham Times that the turnout rate was unsurprising for a municipal election. She congratulated the winners and thanked all candidates who ran for “putting [themselves] out there.”

The city clerk’s office will not verify the election results until Nov. 14, which is the last day to file a recount petition. According to City Clerk Joseph Vizard, early and mail-in votes are all counted in Tuesday’s tally but it does not include ballots that the city’s voting machines were not able to read, which will have to be counted by hand. Vizard estimated the clerk’s office received approximately 20 to 30 such ballots every year.