The following are unofficial results as of Tuesday evening.
PEABODY — While some newcomers made strides, incumbents appeared to claim victory in the races for mayor, Ward 2 city councilor, and at-large city councilor in Tuesday night’s election.
Change was inevitable in Ward 6 when Mark O’Neill decided not to run for re-election. Michael Higgins defeated Ryan Cox by just 82 votes after holding a comfortable lead of nearly 200 votes over Cox in September’s preliminary elections.
Higgins thanked his family, Cox, O’Neill, and the nearly 2,000 residents who cast their votes in the Ward 6 race.
“I would like to thank the residents of Ward 6 for electing me to City Council. I am honored and humbled by the show of support, and I look forward to the work ahead,” Higgins said.
Cox had high hopes of serving his hometown ward and was encouraged by the amount of support he did receive from voters.
“At the end of the day, I can say I earned all 917 votes,” Cox said. “I wasn’t backed by any current ward councilor. The fact that I was that close, I’ll take it as a win.”
Cox says he fully intends to run again in 2025.
Ted Bettencourt will serve his seventh term as mayor after dominating the race against challenger Rochelle Agneta. Much like in the preliminary election, the results overwhelmingly favored Bettencourt, as he received a total of 6,017 votes to Agneta’s 1,229.
Bettencourt’s re-election comes on the heels of the announcement of projects such as Vision 2035, in which he will spearhead a comprehensive update and implementation of the city’s master plan.
In Ward 2, incumbent Peter McGinn locked up a sixth consecutive term after defeating challenger Mary Beth Mallia. McGinn hopes to continue serving his hometown ward not only as councilor but also as chair of the Finance Committee and member of the Legal Affairs Committee.
“I just really want to thank the voters of Ward 2 for the win today,” McGinn said. “I look forward to representing them in my next term.”
Mallia last held the position in 1997. She explained why she decided to run for the position for the first time in more than two decades.
“I ran hard and think I did my best. It was a clean race,” Mallia said. “The reason I ran is I just thought Ward 2 deserved a little bit better presentation of a ward councilor.”
Incumbent Councilors-at-Large Thomas Gould, Ryan Melville, Jon Turco, Thomas Rossignoll, and Anne Manning-Martin were given another two years by voters after challenger Bukia Chalvire failed to unseat any of them. Gould, who received the most votes with 5,710, spoke of his gratitude to the city’s voters for their continued support.
“I’m very honored that the people of Peabody put faith in me. This is wonderful to top the ticket again,” Gould said. “If you try to help people in life, good things come your way.”
