Politics & Government

Saslaw Wins Ward 5 in 'Hard Fought Race'

Joel Saslaw, 50 and a media consultant, defeated Bob Croce in the race for Ward 5 on the City Council Tuesday.

Come January, Joel Saslaw will be the next city councilor in Ward 5...or is that Mayor of Route 1?

Longtime councilor Dave Gamache, who has been dubbed with that informal title, is retiring at the end of this year. Shortly after he announced the news early this year, both Bob Croce and Saslaw announced their intentions to run for the seat.

Saslaw, 50, in his first bid for public office, prevailed Tuesday in a 52-45 split (3 percent of the ballots were blanks). He had 742 votes to Croce's 653 and won both Precinct 1 and 2 in the ward while Croce took Precinct 3.

Croce, 51, ran against Gamache several years ago and has run two other times for School Committee and Councilor-at-Large.

"I knew it was going to be a battle," Saslaw said Tuesday night, describing the campaign as a "hard fought race" by both candidates.

He said a main part of his campaign message was that he does "care dearly about this city" and the residents of the ward, as opposed to just businesses and developers along Route 1. Saslaw said those who know him know he's been very active in the community over the years and he believes Tuesday's results reflect that.

"I want to move the city forward," he said. He plans to meet with Gamache, Mayor Ted Bettencourt and his other new colleagues on the council in the coming days to continue "getting up to speed" on the issues.

"I want to get going from Day One," Saslaw said.


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