Coogan cruises to victory; Fall River sees new city councilors, school committee members

Paul Coogan is returning to the 6th floor in convincing fashion.

The incumbent mayor unofficially received 7,533 (61%) votes to challenger Cliff Ponte’s 4,654 (38%) votes.

Back in September, Coogan received 3,893 (63%) votes and Ponte accrued 2,118 (34%) votes.

The race concerning Coogan and Ponte had been rather heated. Ponte stated that he felt Coogan had no plan and no action while Coogan had an issue with what he felt was negativity on social media from Ponte supporters in addition to his belief that Ponte would be a part-time mayor after the release of Ponte’s memo to his real estate team.

In the battle for City Council seats, voters elected 2 new members, one of which is a former council president, with the top 9 making up the new Council.

Linda M. Pereira 5,704
Trott Lee 5542
Shawn E. Cadime 4,888
Bradford (Brad) Kilby 4,437
Leo O. Pelletier 4,369
Pam Laliberte-Lebeau 4,356
Andrew J. Raposo 4,180
Joseph (Joe) D. Camara 3,965
Michelle M. Dionne 3,867
Christopher Peckham 3,667
Laura-Jean Washington 3,014
Ricky T. Tith 2,965
Paulo J. Amaral 2,782
Gabriel “Boomer” Amaral 2,702
Alexander Silva 2,573
Matthew B. Springer 2,522
Chrisanne Tyrrell 1,853
Angel J. Pantoja, Jr. 1,537

Joe Camara is no stranger to council chambers as he was a former councilor including serving as president.

In January, the Council will have a new president as Ponte ran for mayor. Laliberte-Lebeau is the current vice president.

In the race for School Committee, Fall River will see 3 new members come January with the top 6 winning a seat.

Kevin Aguiar 6,313
Paul B. Hart 5,354
Michelle Mimi Larrivee 5,230
Shelli A. Pereira 4,720
Sara O. Rodrigues 4,086
Bobby Bailey 3,922
Melissa Costa Doyle 3,333
Collin Dias 3,323
Charles M. Chase Jr. 2,633
John Kaleski 2,076

Vice Chairman Mark Costa, Josh Hetzler, and Tom Khoury decided not to run for re-election.