Boyden tops ballot, Loughran reelected in ’24 election

Trish Boyden and her supporters campaign in front of Canton High School on Election Day.

In one of the most hotly contested and closely followed town elections in recent memory, political newcomer Patricia “Trish” Boyden sailed to a victory in the Select Board race — scoring herself that coveted “seat at the table” that she had referenced throughout her campaign.

Clearly popular with voters, Boyden would go on to top the ticket in a crowded four-way race for two available board seats, finishing with 3,223 total votes, more than 300 ahead of the race’s other winner, incumbent Michael Loughran.

“I’ve never run for office before so honestly I wasn’t sure what to expect,” Boyden shared in an email on Wednesday morning. “But my campaign team and I worked hard. We door knocked, phone banked, held countless meet-and-greets, sent out mailers, distributed leaflets through specific precincts and more.”

Although she had never held elected office before, Boyden came into the race with significant organizing and leadership experience, having served for the past 20 years as the president of United Stone & Site, a stone masonry company she founded with her husband. She also previously chaired the Canton Democratic Town Committee and is a founding member of both Indivisible Canton and Canton Residents for a Sustainable, Equitable Future.

She becomes the fourth female in Canton history to be elected to the Select Board, and she’s excited to bring a new perspective to the board that she feels has been sorely lacking. “I know from the last SB meeting I attended and from the forums that were held during the election, my opinion differs from the majority on the Select Board on the MBTA Communities Act,” Boyden said. “I hope the winners from the election — from Kathy Gibbs McCormack and Sean Robinson on the Planning Board to Lisa Lopez on the Housing Authority — sent a clear message to the board that the folks they were backing are not what the majority of Canton citizens want.”

Boyden said the support she received at the polls demonstrates that voters in Canton are ready for a change. “The [November] Special Town Meeting was a good indication of how passionate the voters were to express their uneasiness with the status quo with the Police Department,” she said. “That need for change and transparency carried over into the Select Board race.”

Voters also seemed to value continuity and experience, as evidenced by the reelection of Loughran, who will begin his third consecutive term following prior stints on the School Committee and FinCom.

“Obviously, we had a great turnout for this year’s election,” Loughran stated in an email. “I think the large number was in part due to the many races that were contested, so you had people interested in the Select Board race, some interested in the School Committee results, and the Planning Board race. It’s been a while since we have seen that many people running for various offices. I feel fortunate to have received enough votes to continue to serve Canton as a member of the Select Board.”

Loughran said he’s proud of the campaign he ran and the work he has done so far on the Select Board. “As I said during the candidate forum, there is a lot of great stuff going on in Canton and I am excited to keep working with my fellow board members on some of the projects.”

Loughran finished with 2,917 total votes, edging out another vocal challenger in Rita Lombardi as well as a fellow incumbent in Tom Theodore, who finished with 2,736 and 2,621 votes, respectively.

Beyond the Select Board race, this year’s election also featured contested races for School Committee, Planning Board, Board of Assessors, Library Board of Trustees, and, by virtue of a declared write-in candidate, Canton Housing Authority.

Lopez, a former one-term Select Board member who lost her reelection bid last year to challengers JR McCourt and Chris Albert, was comfortably elected to the five-year CHA seat with nearly 66 percent of the vote, besting write-in hopeful Nick Corkery (17.4 percent).

A second write-in candidate, Robert Maffie, had declared his intention to run for a two-year vacancy on the Planning Board and he went on to receive 15.3 percent of the vote, not nearly enough to defeat Sean Robinson, who received 62.8 percent support.

The most convincing victory of the night was scored by incumbent School Committee member Kendall O’Halloran — a former write-in candidate herself — who earned 57.5 percent of the vote to secure her reelection over challenger Jennifer O’Donnell (33.8 percent).

On the opposite end of the spectrum, first-time candidate Kathleen Howley, the architect of the Canton Police audit approved by voters at STM, came very close to an upset victory in her bid for Board of Assessors against multi-term incumbent Rocco Digirolamo. The veteran assessor squeaked by with 49.1 percent of the vote and carried four of the seven precincts. Howley won the other three precincts and finished with just under 45 percent of the vote.

Challengers in a few other contested races did not fare as well, however. In a contest between incumbent Planning Board member Kathy McCormack and local developer John Marini Sr. for a five-year board seat, McCormack won comfortably by a margin of 54 percent to 34.7 percent. (A few dozen people wrote in Maffie for this seat instead of the two-year vacancy while another 10 percent of voters left it blank.)

In the race for library trustee, two-time challenger Mindy Milman was unable to unseat any of the three incumbents who were seeking reelection, finishing a distant fourth. Trustee Jan Chamberlain was the leading vote getter and carried all seven precincts, followed by fellow incumbents Joan Schottenfeld and Chris Untersee, who were both secured another three-year term.

Also reelected on Tuesday in uncontested races were incumbents Tracy Kenney for Town Clerk and Alan Rapoport for Board of Health.

In all, more than 6,000 voters cast a ballot in the 2024 town election — more than 2,000 ahead of last year’s total—which translated to an overall voter turnout of 34 percent.

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