Brunswick residents weighed 10 candidates — 11 if you include the write-in vying for a seat on the council — for seven openings on the municipal ballot this year.
While three won uncontested reelection campaigns, the remaining competitors faced tough races for positions on Town Council and the school board.
Here are the winners of this election season based on unofficial counts posted at the polls Tuesday night.
Town Council race
Councilor James Ecker beat candidate Mark Melendy in a 1,359-422 vote for the District 2 council seat.
Kimberly Anderson beat Bruce Kantner in a 857-782 vote for the District 3 council seat. Mary McNulty was also on the ballot for this seat, however she withdrew mid-October. The town clerk said that votes for her were not counted, though unofficial counts showed McNulty received 267 votes.
District 4 Councilor Sande Updegraph won her uncontested reelection campaign and will serve another three years on the council.
Katherine E. Wilson drew 10,865 votes for the at-large council seat. She was challenged by write-in candidate Christopher Teel. A total of 721 write-in votes were counted, of which Teel received 344 votes.
While Ecker and Wilson have served time on the council before, Anderson will be the newest face in municipal leadership.
Anderson will replace Chairperson Abby King, who’s term concludes Dec. 31 this year and did not seek reelection. She has previously said that she aims to bring in diverse businesses, support workforce development and affordable housing, which she noted were all “intricately tied together.”
Ecker, who is currently sitting on council in the at-large seat, will move to fill the now-vacant District 2 seat. This position was previously occupied by Steve Walker, who resigned on Aug. 6 citing that the sole reason for the decision was moving his primary home to River Road, which is in District 4.
Walker’s resignation prompted a special election for his seat, and the winner — Ecker — will serve out the remainder of Walker’s term, which ends Dec. 31, 2025. The remaining council seats that were won in this election seasons have three year terms.
School board at-large
Abigail Isaacson Abbott beat Shaun Hogan for the school board at-large seat in a 8,417-3,282 vote.
School board member Erica Carley Harris won her uncontested reelection campaign for District 3, and member Celina S. Harrison won her uncontested reelection campaign for District 4.
Abbott will be the newest addition to the board, and has previously said that she aims to build on Brunswick’s “strong school system” by continuing to improve the schools. She said that she aims to invest in the pre-kindergarten program and use data to measure use data to measure progress for academic achievement goals and to inform teaching.
The next municipal election for Brunswick will come next summer, when residents vote on the school budget June 10, 2025.