WATERVILLE — Democratic Party members voted Monday night to postpone nominations for candidates for mayor in the November election during a spirited party caucus attended by more than 60 people.
Along the way Monday night, Waterville Democrats appointed new party leadership: Eliza Mathias was voted the new Democratic Party chairwoman and Brendan O’Keefe, the party treasurer.
On a motion to postpone nominations for mayor by Charles Ferris, Democrats agreed to reconvene at 6 p.m. July 26 in the City Council chambers to accept nominations.
“This was scheduled very early in the process without any vetting and seeing who is running,” Ferris said. “I think it’s in the best interest of this party.”
The vote to postpone was 36 yes to 21 no.
Among the “no” votes was former City Councilor Karen Rancourt-Thomas, the only Democrat to announce her interest in seeking the nomination to challenge incumbent Waterville Mayor Nick Isgro in November.
“I find it atrocious that this is happening,” Rancourt-Thomas said.
Some agreed, saying the date was set “and we’re here,” and “everybody had time to prepare.”
But others disagreed, including new party Chairwoman Mathias, who said this is a very important time for Democrats. She asked for “a little more time” to come up with nomination for mayor. Some Democrats agreed, noting that they had only heard of Monday night’s caucus a short time earlier and welcomed the postponement.
Isgro, 35, a Republican, announced in a Facebook post Friday morning he is running for re-election, saying he wants to see through important “renaissance” initiatives in Waterville that involve multimillion-dollar investments downtown.
Meanwhile, Rancourt-Thomas, 53, said Friday she is planning to run for mayor as a Democrat “to bring together a city that is perceived as divided.”
In voting for nominees for open seats in Ward 2 Monday night, incumbent City Councilor Nathaniel White got the nod from fellow Democrats, as did incumbent Susan Reiser for Board of Education.
When voting for vote Ward 4 nominees came around, Ferris again moved to postpone the voting until July 26, but this time the motion was defeated.
“We need more time,” Ferris appealed. “There’s no reason in the world that we need to move this quickly.”
But Ferris’ motion was defeated with 16 “no” votes to 7 “yes.”
Ward 4 Democrats voted for Chris Rancourt as the nominee for City Council. In voting for a nominee for Ward 4 school board, Mary Ann Bernier, the incumbent, was voted in.
In nominations for Ward 6, Winifred Tate, the incumbent, got the nomination, with Elizabeth Bickford, also an incumbent, also getting the nomination for school board.
Doug Harlow — 612-2367
Twitter:@Doug_Harlow
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