NORTHAMPTON — After facing no challengers for a decade, longtime Ward 5 City Councilor David Murphy, owner of The Murphys Realtors, was unseated by Alex Jarrett, a founder and worker-owner of Pedal People, in Tuesday’s election, which brought out 26 percent of the city’s voters.
“I feel very surprised,” Jarrett, 44, said. “I thought it would be close — I wasn’t sure I’d win at all.”
Jarrett received 828 votes to Murphy’s 280, according to the city clerk’s unofficial results.
Without experience in an elected city position, “I doubted myself every step of the way. I felt like I did not belong most of the time,” Jarrett said. “But the lesson is, I’d encourage other people to not let those feelings of doubt hold them back.”
Murphy has been on the council for nearly 14 years and is the chairman of the council’s finance committee — the only non-mayor to ever hold the position. The Gazette could not reach him for a comment late Tuesday night. He was first elected to the Ward 5 seat in a contested race in 2005, succeeding former Ward 5 councilor Alex Ghiselin who did not run for reelection that year.
Unseating a councilor who has been in office for 14 years, Jarrett said is “a testament to the work we did going door to door, knocking on 1,500 doors. It’s a testament to the power of inclusion.” In his first term, he plans to knock on all the doors in his ward. He’s done the math already: “16 doors a week,” he said.
Jarrett wasn’t the only newcomer elected to the council on Tuesday evening. Five new people were elected to the nine-member council, marking a significant turnover of seats.
“We’ve had significant changes before,” said Bill Dwight, an at-large city councilor. “I think there’s a learning curve. I think with the qual ity of people who won tonight, we’re destined to have a solid, thoughtful City Council.”
Rachel Maiore, who won the Ward 7 seat over Penny Geis, echoed Dwight. “It’s a big change for all of us, for us to have such a big changeover. But I also think it can be good — there will be a lot of collaboration and mutual learning,” she said.
Maiore received 612 votes and Geis 371 votes. “It’s heartening to have the community believe in me,” Maiore said.
“Running for office is kind of like trust falling into the community,” Maiore said. “I have a lot of respect for anyone who’s going to do this, who’s going to run.”
Council newcomers Karen Foster, executive director of All Out Adventures, and John Thorpe, a probation officer in Northampton District Court, both won seats on the council in Wards 2 and 4 in uncontested elections.
In Ward 1, Michael Quinlan, who received 593 votes, beat Andrew Smith who garnered 262 votes. Quinlan will replace longtime Ward 1 City Councilor Maureen Carney, who did not run for reelection.
“I believe Northampton is a terrific place — that’s why I ran. I love this city so much,” Quinlan said while standing in City Hall on Tuesday night.
Quinlan has lived in the city for most of his life. “I’m looking forward to being part of the leadership,” he said.
Greta Jochem can be reached at gjochem@gazettenet.com.