After a long campaign season, the unofficial results from the 2024 Town Election have been announced.

Peter Mimmo, Kyla McSweeney, Brian Herr, and Joe Clark all ran highly-dedicated campaigns that remained remarkably civil throughout the process.

In the end, lifetime Hopkinton resident Clark and now four-time Select Board member Herr secured seats on the Select Board.

Based on the initial results, Clark earned 1,846 (34%) of the votes, while Herr earned 1,810 (33%).

McSweeney earned 931 (17%) of the votes, while Mimmo earned 864 (16%).

Town Clerk Connor Degan stated these results are initial and do not include ballots needed to be hand-counted and write-in ballots. However, these votes are unlikely to change the results of this year’s election.

Precinct 1 accounted for fewer of the total votes in respect to the other precincts, tallying 13% of the votes. Precincts 2, 3, and 4 each accounted for 21%, while Precinct 5 accounted for 24% of the total votes.

Clark won three of the five precincts – Precincts 1, 2, and 3 – and only lost to Herr by one vote in Precinct 5.

Clark, who was the first of this year’s four candidates to announce his campaign in late March, said he is feeling a “combination of excitement and humbled” after winning. 

“To see the support that came out for me, came out for Brian, [and] came out for – really – the town and wanting a change has just completely humbled me and really got me energized to actually go do the job now that I’m set up for it,” he said.

Clark said managing the town budget and finishing the two new school projects are the most important issues for him.

He added he hopes to “instill confidence” in the town leadership. 

“The people want to know that they can trust their Select Board moving forward as we go through what’s going to be a few years of really tough decisions,” Clark said.

He officially endorsed fellow-winner Herr earlier this month and “could not be more excited” to share the victory with him.

Clark said, “I think about what Brian’s provided for this town – 12 years, [and] he’s going to be giving another three. That is a tremendous amount of time to commit to this town. Everyone should be very thankful that Brian’s dedicated this time.”

“His knowledge of municipal finance is, especially for Hopkinton, unparalleled. So as we approach the debt issues that we’re heading towards, we need a leader like Brian. And honestly, I can’t think of anyone better,” Clark added.

Herr is stepping into his fourth term as a member of the Hopkinton Select Board.

“I think the town had a good victory today. It’s not about me and it’s not about Joe – it’s about the town of Hopkinton. And I think we have people in place now that can help us move forward together,” he said.

Herr said the budget, especially after approving the school project, is the most important issue for the town.

“We have to be very careful that we don’t overtax the residents. And the way to do that is to make sure that we back off a little bit for the next couple years and put measures in place so that the tax bill doesn’t become crazy,” he said.

Herr endorsed Clark back at the end of March, early in the campaign.

“I’m really excited about Joe winning,” he said. “He’s the next generation of Hopkinton leaders. So I’m really most excited about that – more so for him winning than myself, because he is the future, and his contemporaries are the future, of Hopkinton. I’m looking forward to helping him learn the ropes a bit and then letting him and his team go forward.”

The Select Board will elect their Chair and Vice Chair during their next meeting May 21.

The meeting will be held at Town Hall at 6:00 p.m. and will be available to join on Zoom or on YouTube through HCAM.