PORTSMOUTH — Seventeen candidates have filed to run for City Council, including all nine incumbents, five former city councilors and three first-time candidates.
Mayor Deaglan McEachern waited until late Tuesday afternoon to file for reelection in 2023, joining the eight other incumbent city councilors who previously filed.
The incumbents will face another matchup with former mayor Rick Becksted and a group of ex-councilors collectively known as the Becksted 5 because they voted together on many issues. This includes former multiple-time City Councilor Esther Kennedy, who filed late Tuesday, as well as Paige Trace, Peter Whelan and Petra Huda. All five were voted out of office in November 2021.
In addition to McEachern, the incumbents running for reelection include Assistant Mayor Joanna Kelley and councilors John Tabor, Josh Denton, Beth Moreau, Andrew Bagley, Vince Lombardi, Rich Blalock and Kate Cook.
Also in the race are first-time candidates Kathleen Soldati, Kevin Coyle (a former Rockingham County commissioner) and Andrea A.R. Pickett.
The deadline to file to run in the 2023 municipal city elections was Tuesday at 5. The election is Tuesday, Nov. 7. The top vote getter in the race for the City Council wins the mayor’s seat, and the second-place finisher is assistant mayor.
Mayor says all candidates are individuals
Reached early Tuesday evening, McEachern stressed “there are 17 individual candidates who are running.”
But he credited this council with “working hard day to day with civility to listen to everybody’s concerns and give everyone a chance to speak.”
If re-elected, he thinks one of the priorities of the council should be to continue to work to try to encourage the development of below market rate housing in the city. Zoning passed earlier this year will require work-force housing in larger developments, he said.
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He is hopeful during the next two months candidates will be able to debate “what future the residents want to see in Portsmouth.”
When they disagree, he hopes they do so “in an agreeable way.”
Becksted challenges record of current council
Becksted said Tuesday he believes “the residents of Portsmouth have not been represented by this council.”
“What have they done?” Becksted asked several times during an interview Tuesday afternoon. “What have they done that represents the city of Portsmouth? They came up with a plan for housing at the Sherburne School, but they didn’t ask the residents if they wanted it, they just told them this is what we’re doing.”
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He also pointed to the roughly $14 million increase in the city’s budgets the current council has passed during the last two years.
If he’s elected back to the council, he believes a top priority should be “getting ready for next year’s budget.”
That’s especially true with the upcoming 2024 stastical revaluation of property values, he said.
“When these spikes come, they’re going to be some of the biggest spikes the city of Portsmouth has ever seen,” he said about the anticipated increase in home values.
School Board, police and fire commission candidates
Seven candidates filed to run for four open School Board seats. They are Patricia “Tish” Campbell, Bill Blum, Byron Matto, incumbent Pip Clews, David Hudson, Dan Freund and Genevieve Becksted Muske, according to the city clerk’s office.
Incumbent Fire Commission member Michael Hughes is running against former state representative Jackie Cali-Pitts for the one open commission seat.
Gary Dozier, Jay R. Lieberman and Francesca Marconi Fernald are running for the one open Police Commission seat.
