Taunton Mayor Shaunna O'Connell beats back challenge — Coute loses Council seat to Martin

TAUNTON — Taunton voters have spoken and handed Mayor Shaunna O'Connell a convincing victory over her former chief of staff Ed Correira.

O'Connell captured almost 59% of the vote to Correira's 41%, according to unofficial results Tuesday night, with all 16 of Taunton's precincts reporting.

Just over 22% of Taunton's registered voters turned out for Tuesday's election.

In one of the upsets of the night, in the City Council race, incumbent Christopher Coute was unseated by challenger Scott Martin. The other eight of the nine incumbents won re-election.

Over on the School Committee, incumbent Derek George lost his bid for re-election and two challengers grabbed seats, Donna Chaves and Melissa Santos.

And TMLP will also have two new faces, as incumbent Timothy Hebert lost his bid for re-election and challengers William Strojny and Gregory Demelo won seats.

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Here's how the 11 City Council candidates did

Eleven candidates, including all nine incumbents, vied for the nine seats on the City Council. In the end, eight of the nine incumbents won re-election, with incumbent Estele Borges garnering by far the most votes, at 5,113, followed by incumbents Kelly Dooner at 4,122, John McCaul at 3,950 and David Pottier at 3,886.

Challenger Scott Martin — who has made two previous unsuccessful bids for Council — was the fifth highest vote getter at 3,849, followed by incumbents Phillip Duarte at 3,799, Barry Sanders at 3,680, Lawrence Quintal at 3,580 and Jeffrey Postell, who secured the ninth and final spot with 3,530 votes.

That edged out incumbent Christopher Coute, who came in at 3,426, losing his seat by 104 votes.

Challenger Edna Isaac came in last of the eleven candidates with 2,439 votes.

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School Committee incumbent comes up short

Thirteen candidates, including seven incumbents, vied for the eight seats on the School Committee.

Six of the seven incumbents won re-election, with incumbent Derek George losing his bid for another term. And two challengers won seats on the school board, Donna Chaves and Melissa Santos.

Longtime School Committee member Christine Fagan pulled in the most votes, at 3,840, followed by incumbents Gregory DeMelo at 3,783, Louis Loura at 3,620 and Gill Enos at 3,415. Chaves, was the fifth highest vote getter with 3,053, followed by incumbent Nathan Pawlowski at 2,916 and then Santos at 2,861 and incumbent Steven Vieira, who grabbed the eighth and final spot with 2,832 votes.

Coming in ninth was challenger Charlene D.M. Fiore, coming up short with 2,690 votes, followed by challenger Tanya Lobo with 2,483 votes, George with 2,437 votes, and challengers Heather Baylies-Grigoreas with 1,920 votes and Julie Ochs with 1,342.

Longtime School Committee member and former City Councilor Jordan Fiore did not seek re-election.

Who won and lost for Planning Board?

There were 10 candidates, five of them incumbents, vying for the seven seats on the Planning Board, and all five of them won: Anthony Abreau, Dennis Ackerman, Manuel Spencer Jr., Brian Carr and John Reardon.

The five challengers were: George Moniz Jr., Scott Rodrigues, Michael Yurkovskiy, William Fitzgerald Jr. and Kelly Dooner. Of those Dooner and Moniz grabbed the two remaining slots.

Incumbents Robert Campbell and Michael Monteiro did not running for re-election.

Who won and lost for Zoning Board of Appeals?

There were be 12 candidates, six of them incumbents, vying for the five regular seats and two alternate positions on the Zoning Board, and all six of them won: Dennis Ackerman, Steven Vieira, George Moniz Jr., Craig Faria, Seth Turner and John Joyce.

The six challengers were: Scott Rodrigues; Karen Grossi-Pemberton, Timothy Silvia Jr., John Doherty, Christopher Coute and Jordan H.F. Fiore.

Of those, Doherty grabbed the open seat.

The seventh incumbent, longtime ZBA member Wayne Berube, recently died.

Who won and lost for TMLP?

Five candidates, two of them incumbents, were vying for the three seats on the Taunton Municipal Light Plant Commission.

Of the two incumbents running, Peter Corr won and Timothy Hebert lost.

Two of the three challengers won, Gregory DeMelo and William Strojny, while the third, Jonathan Gray, came up short.

There was one open seat because longtime incumbent Mark Blackwell Sr. died on Jan. 31.

This article originally appeared on The Enterprise: Taunton election results: Shaunna O'Connell wins re-election as mayor