Win or lose, mayoral race is making history

By Maureen Boyle
ENTERPRISE STAFF WRITER

BROCKTON – Earl Churchill will be part of history Tuesday.

Churchill will be one of the registered voters who will decide Tuesday which two of three candidates will get a shot at the mayor’s seat in November: a gay, married black father with one child; a straight single woman; or a white married father of four.

``Things have changed a lot in the city,'' Churchill, 71, said.

The incumbent, Mayor James E. Harrington, will face Jass Stewart, an openly gay married man with a son, and Gayle Kelley, the city’s former cultural affairs director and the second woman to run for mayor in Brockton in recent history. Two of them will be on the ballot in November.

Neither a woman nor a minority have been mayor in this city.

``It is an interesting race from a social dynamic,'' Michael Kryzanek, political science professor at Bridgewater State College, said. ``History will be made, one way or another.''

The preliminary mayoral election Tuesday in this ever-changing city of 94,000-plus is one of the most crowded, lively and diverse in years.

``This is an interesting election year,'' said Paul Studenski, the Ward 4 councilor whose father was once mayor. ``People like politics in Brockton.''

The candidates also provide a glimpse into how the city is changing. None of the mayoral candidates are Brockton natives. The two challengers never held elected political office before. Stewart, who is making his second bid for mayor, is the first black man to seek the office.

About a quarter of the city’s population is foreign-born. About 30,000 people speak a language other than English at home. Slightly more than half – about 47,000 – are white, according to 2006 U.S. Census Bureau figures.

And a growing number didn’t grow up in the city.

``The candidates who used to run were born and bred in Brockton,'' said Elections Commissioner John McGarry ``That is what people looked for. It is a much more transient society because jobs change and people move around.'' That translates into voters with different mind-sets and backgrounds.

``The whole political landscape has changed,'' former Brockton mayor John T. Yunits Jr. said. ``The traditional big families aren’t on the voting decks any more ... There was a time when you would identify a voting block. None of that exists anymore.''

Neither do the social or political barriers to running for office.

``Years ago, if someone said there would be a woman and a gay man running for mayor, I would say you were smoking something,'' state Sen. Robert Creedon, D-Brockton, said. ``Obviously things have changed and Massachusetts tends to be more accepting of different candidates.''

But voters still need to go to the polls and, McGarry said, preliminary elections aren’t much of a draw in the city. He predicts between 10 and 12 percent of the 42,175 registered voters will come out on Tuesday.

Earlier preliminary elections had higher turnouts but there were more races, and more people, to pull the voters in, he said.

In 2005, there was a 15 percent turnout. In 2003 and 1999, it was 13 percent. But there are no other races on the ballet this September.

``It is only the mayor’s race here. You don’t have 10 councilors whose friends would come out to vote,'' he said. Kryzanek, the political science professor, said incumbents often have the edge in elections, but Harrington is seen as vulnerable because he’s only been in office a short time.

``When someone has been in office for two years, that’s when people come out to challenge him,'' Kryzanek said. ``People are not wedded to somebody like they may be to someone who has been there for a while.''

Creedon said everything is a bit uncertain in politics these days.

``The turnouts continue to be disappointing,'' he said. ``It is a national phenomenon.''

Nothing will keep Mildred Bowker from the polls Tuesday, though.

The 81-year-old who raised eight children in the city said the political scene in Brockton today is no different than elsewhere.

``I think it mirrors the national elections with a variety of candidates with different backgrounds,'' she said. Bill Ginis, 65, said he’s not sure voters will embrace candidates who are different from traditional mainstream politicians, but the final tallies will reveal if he’s right.

But Francisco Mendes, 35, said the city needs political variety.

``It’s time,'' he said.

Maureen Boyle can be reached at mboyle@enterprisenews.com.