According to Town Clerk Connor Degan, the list of candidates for the May 20 town election has been finalized. Only one race is contested, and it is for Select Board, where four candidates are seeking to replace the two seats vacated by Chair Muriel Kramer and member Irfan Nasrullah.

This will be the first election in recent history where candidates will appear on the ballot without political parties attached to their name. Historically, the electoral landscape in Hopkinton was distinctly partisan, with candidates wearing their political affiliations like badges of honor, clearly demarcated as Democrats or Republicans on the ballot. This traditional approach to elections often drew lines in the sand, dividing our community along ideological lines. But last November at the Special Town Meeting, Hopkinton voters emphatically signaled that they’d had enough of partisanship, and voted to approve Article 2, which eliminated party caucusing and party affiliation on the ballot. 

“When we started this effort, and while collecting the 100 plus signatures that were needed to get this idea on the Special Town Meeting agenda, we often heard that the result of our efforts, if indeed we were successful, would be a dearth of candidates,” said Ed Harrow, one of the organizers of Article 2. “As I look at the ballot I see that, at the very least, we have one for every opening, and in the case of the Select Board we’ve four candidates for two openings. Twenty-two town citizens running to hopefully make Hopkinton a better place.”

The candidates for office are listed below. An asterisk indicates that they are incumbent.

• Select Board (3 years, choose 2)
  • Joseph Clark, 1 Colella Farm Road (meet Joe Clark)
  • Brian Herr, 49 Hayden Rowe (meet Brian Herr)
  • Kyla McSweeney, 178 Ash Street (meet Kyla McSweeney)
  • Peter Mimmo, 0 Sanctuary Lane (meet Peter Mimmo)

>> RELATED: HopNews and HCAM are co-hosting a moderated debate between Select Board candidates on Sunday, April 28. Click to learn more, and see how to watch.

• Board of Assessors (3 years, choose 1)
  • Lesley Ficarri, 57 Greenwood Road *
• Board of Health (3 years, choose 1)
  • Mary Jo Ondrechen, 2 College Street
• Board of Library Trustees (3 years, choose 1)
  • Anne Beauchamp, 52 Teresa Road *
• Board of Library Trustees (1 year, choose 1)
  • Stanley Pulnik, 11 Downey Street
• Cemetery Commission (3 years, choose 1)
  • Linda Kimball, 1 Davis Road *
• Cemetery Commission (2 years, choose 1)
  • Arlene Casassa, 37 Sanctuary Lane
• Commissioners of Trust Funds (3 years, choose 1)
  • Amanda Murphy, 18 Connelly Hill Road
• Constable  (3 years, choose 1)
  • Michael King, 189 Hayden Rowe
• Housing Authority  (5 years, choose 1)
  • Ilana Casady, 19 Eastview Road *
• Housing Authority  (1 year, choose 1)
  • Beth Malloy, 190 Lumber Street
• Parks & Recreation Commission (3 years, choose 2)
  • Amy O’Donnell, 2 Chadwick Way *
  • Daniel Terry, 9 John Matthew Road *
• Parks & Recreation Commission (1 year, choose 1)
  • Kyle Smith, 25 Amherst Road
• Planning Board (5 years, choose 1)
  • Parker Happ, 3 Auciello Road
• Planning Board (3 years, choose 1)
  • Lucia Lopez, 4 Marshall Avenue
• Planning Board (1 year, choose 1)
  • Karen Wills, 33 Blueberry Lane
• School Committee (3 years, choose 2)
  • Christopher Masters, 4 McDermott Lane
  • Jamie Wronka, 6 Blackthorne Circle