Pittsfield Election Heats Up With New Faces, Certified Candidates

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The city is seeing increased interest in this year's election and with just a few weeks until signatures are due, many candidates have been certified.

As of late last week, new faces have taken out papers for the mayoral and at-large, Ward 2 and Ward 6 council races.

There are now five parties interested in replacing Mayor Linda Tyer, who announced that she will not be seeking re-election earlier this year.

David Webber has taken out papers for mayor, joining John Krol, Craig Gaetani, Karen Kalinowsky, and Peter Marchetti on the list. Not much can be found on the new candidate from public records.

Lucas Marion has taken out papers for councilor at large against a slate of certified candidates: Alisa Costa, Craig Benoit and incumbents Earl Persip III, Pete White and Karen Kalinowsky.

Brittany Bandani has taken out papers for Ward 2, for which Soncere Williams is the only certified candidate so far. Alexander Blumin and incumbent Charles Kronick have also taken out papers but Kronick has indicated that he is not seeking re-election.

Edward Carmel has taken out papers for Ward 6 to run against incumbent Dina Lampiasi and Gaetani.  Carmel is a homelessness advocate and unsuccessfully ran against Lampiasi in the 2021 election, securing 44 percent of the vote.

Three of the interested mayoral candidates have previously run for the office: Marchetti, Gaetani and Kalinowsky. Marchetti is the only mayoral candidate so far to have his signatures certified.

He is currently in his eighth year as the City Council president and has a 35-year career at the Pittsfield Cooperative Bank. His tenure as an at-large councilor began in 2001 but he was not re-elected two years later. He came back to the council in 2005 and then took a four-year break after losing the 2011 mayoral election by 116 votes.

Krol is a former City Council vice president and worked for former Mayor James Ruberto. He also has experience in broadcast and print media, anchoring "Good Morning, Pittsfield" on WTBR for years and is now known for his podcast "The John Krol Show," which features long-form conversations with people ranging from business owners to artists and politicians and has been president and owner of marketing firm OneEighty Media for more than a decade. 

Gaetani ran for mayor in 2015 and garnered 0.51 percent of the vote. He also took out papers for Ward 6. He is a former marketing director of Krofta Engineering and is a regular at City Council's open microphone.

Kalinowksy worked with the Pittsfield Police Department for more than 30 years and was a student resource officer at Reid Middle School for 13 of them. After retiring, she ran in Pittsfield's 2019 mayoral race but lost in the four-way preliminary election. She was elected to her at-large seat in 2021.

The last day to submit nomination papers to the Registrar of Voters for certification is July 21 and the last day to submit papers to the city clerk is Aug. 4. A preliminary election, if needed, is scheduled for Sept. 19 and the general election is on Nov. 7.??

Candidate list as of Thursday

MAYOR

Peter Marchetti*
John Krol Jr.
Craig Gaetani
Karen Kalinowsky
David Webber

CITY CLERK

Michele Benjamin*

AT LARGE

Earl Persip III*
Peter White*
Alisa Costa*
Craig Benoit*
Karen Kalinowsky*
Lucas Marion

WARD 1

Kenneth Warren Jr

WARD 2

WARD 7

Anthony Maffuccio*
Jonathon Morey*

SCHOOL COMMITTEE

William Garrity Jr.*
Sara Hathaway*
William Cameron
Daniel Elias*
Stephanie Sabin
Dominick Sacco*

* Signatures certified

BMC Receives Baby-Friendly Designation