PEABODY — Mark O’Neill topped the Ward 6 City Council primary and will square off against Michael Geomelos in November.
O’Neill garnered 348 of the 760 votes cast, while Geomelos finished with 242. Margaret Tierney finished out of the running with 170 in the race to succeed outgoing Ward 6 Councilor Barry Sinewitz.
“We’re very pleased with the result,” said O’Neill, a first-time candidate. “We had a lot of support coming out, but now we have a lot of work to do before Nov. 7.”
Geomelos, a part-owner of the city’s only remaining leather tannery, said he expects to kick things up a notch between now and the general election.
“I had a hip replacement five weeks ago, so I was not able to get out and meet as many people as I would have liked,” he said. “Still, it was a good showing and I am happy with it.”
Turnout in the ward was just under 12 percent on Tuesday, according to City Clerk Tim Spanos.
Now that the preliminaries are out of the way, there are a number of other contested races on the Nov. 7 general election ballot.
Ward 5 Councilor Joel Saslaw is being challenged by James Jeffrey as he seeks a third term.
In Ward 4, incumbent Ed Charest is being challenged by Bukia Chalvire.
Ward 1 Councilor Jon Turco, Ward 2 Councilor Peter McGinn, and Ward 3 Councilor James Moutsoulas are running unopposed.
There will also be at least two new Councilors-at-Large next year. Longtime councilor Michael Garabedian is not seeking reelection, nor is Tom Walsh, who will be concentrating on his role as state representative.
Incumbents Anne Manning-Martin, Tom Gould, and David Gravel will be joined on the ballot by Ryan Melville, Stephen Collins, Peter Bakula, Tom Rossignol, and Russell Donovan in the race for the five at-large seats.
School Committee incumbents Beverley Ann Griffin Dunne and Jarrod Hochman are running for reelection, and will be joined on the ballot by Andrew Arnotis, Linda Quadros-Lopez, and Laurence Aiello in the race for three committee seats.
One race that won’t be contested is for the corner office, where Mayor Edward A. Bettencourt Jr. is running unopposed for a fourth term.
