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City Councilor at-Large Hannah Bowen won Tuesday’s special election to replace State Rep. Jerry Parisella and represent the 6th Essex district on Beacon Hill.

Bowen, a 43-year-old Democrat, won with 73% of votes and carried all six of Beverly’s wards against Republican Medley Long III. “ I am so thankful to the residents of Beve rly and Wenham for entrusting me to represent them on Beacon Hill. I do not take this responsibility lightly,” Bowen said in a statement Tuesday. “I also want to thank the more than one hundred volunteers who always showed up even in the rain, snow, and extreme wind to make this possible.

“At a time when things seem heavy, this campaign reminded me of what is possible when we bring people together.”

Bowen will represent all of Beverly and Precinct 1 in Wenham in the seat Parisella vacated this winter to become a judge.

Wenham voters cast 144 ballots in favor of Bowen and 37 for Long, while Beverly carried 3,949 votes for Bowen, and 1,406 for Long.

 Every candidate on our Slate of Candidates was elected and every DanversDem running for Town Meeting Member won their race. The voters have responded to our message of fairness, inclusivity and experience in town government.

Gardner Trask and Dan Bennett were victorious in the field of seven Select Board candidates.  Gardner topped the ticket with 1,561 votes, earning the top spot in every single precinct.  He will ably succeed our own DanversDem David Mills who has served the town with dignity, competence and honor for many years.  Dan Bennett secured the second spot with 1,378 votes also ranking second in every precinct.  Kevin Berich was third with 1,092 votes and Sandy Franeschini fourth with 892 votes.

Gabe Lopes won decisively defeating Maxwell Rudin for School Committee by a wide margin; 2,074 to 740 votes.

Congratulations to DanversDem Julie Curtis, who was the top vote getter for Library Trustee with 1,956 votes.  Julie was elected alongside Noah Levitt and Kevin Lee.

Michael Swindell was re-elected unopposed for Housing Authority.

DanversDems will be well represented in the next Town Meeting with all six of our candidates elected.  We are especially excited for our four first time Town Meeting Members!

Precinct 1:  Lou George (re-elected) & Jillian Durand (first time member)
Precinct 2: Phil Bolduc (first time member)
Precinct 3: Charlotte Jordan (first time member)
Precinct 5: Liz Brennan (first time member)
Precinct 8: Lou Bernazzani – re-elected

We are deeply grateful to all the candidates who stepped up to run and for your commitment to serve our town.  A special thank you to all the DanversDems who worked so hard in this election.

We have never endorsed candidates in local elections, which are non-partisan, as you know. However, this year is different. The stakes are higher. The prospect of a majority of Select Board members who appear eager to bring the Trump agenda to our town is both worrisome and all too real. Five Republican candidates are running for Select Board and another for School Committee.

We hope you will join us in voting for Gardner Trask and Dan Bennett for Select Board and Gabe Lopes for School Committee on May 6.  

These individuals are proven community leaders who reflect our Democratic values: fairness, inclusion, responsible government, and a deep affection for and commitment to Danvers.  They are experienced, thoughtful leaders, who have shown that they can listen, collaborate and lead effectively.

In a local election, every single vote matters.  We urge you to make a plan to vote on Tuesday May 6 for Gardner Trask, Dan Bennett, Gabe Lopes and our full slate of candidates who will serve Danvers with integrity and vision.

Election Day is this Tuesday, May 6 

Select Board (2 positions open)

• Gardner Trask
• Dan Bennett

School Committee (1 position open)

• Gabe Lopes

Library Trustee (3 positions open)

• Julie Curtis
• Noah Leavitt
• Kenneth Lee

Housing Authority (1 position open)

• Mike Swindell

Thank you for being an engaged member of our community.

The Democrat caucus elected delegates to the MassDems convention on Thursday, April 24 at the Danvers Library.

Danvers elected 13 delegates of the allotted 14 delegates to Danvers; gender balanced. In addition, there are 4 ex-officio delegates bring the total delegation to 17 delegates. This is the largest delegation in recent years.

Delegates are as follows:

• Liz Bernazzani
• Lou Bernazzani
• Phil Bolduc
• Liz Brennan
• Beth Burridge
• State Committee Julie Curtis
• Jillian Durand
• Christine Farrar
• Lisa Gallant
• Lou George
• Ellen Graham
• State Committee Marilyn Hazel
• State Rep Sally Kerans
• Vincent Malgeri
• Patricia Maloney
• Tom Meagher
• Isiah Young

DanversDems will be participating in the Town-wide Clean Up on Saturday April 26. We will have 3 teams cleaning up at Library and mill pond surrounding area, the Senior Center and Holten Richmond Middle School.