Cambridge election season is officially underway, with incumbents taking nomination papers first
A familiar City Council race was foreshadowed Tuesday as nomination papers became available at Election Commission offices. The dozen candidates eager enough to stop by on the first day of a monthlong window included six of nine sitting councillors and four challengers who also ran two years ago.
Thing felt different on the School Committee side, where four sets of nominations were taken out – only one by an incumbent (David Weinstein), with the rest being newcomers: Jane Hirschi, the founder of the CitySprouts urban gardening nonprofit; Anne Coburn; and Jia-Jing Lee.
Mayor E. Denise Simmons was the first person picking up papers for the Nov. 4 municipal elections. She was elected to the council for the first time in 2001 and could be reelected to her 13th term in office.
Simmons was followed by Catherine Zusy, who stepped in after the death of councillor Joan Pickett and could be reelected into her first full term; and Sumbul Siddiqui, first elected in 2017 and seeking her fourth term in office. Also soon taking out papers Tuesday were incumbents Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler, who served on the council from 2019-2020, returned in 2023 and seeks his third term in office; Ayesha Wilson, who moved over two years ago from the School Committee; and vice mayor Marc McGovern, first elected in 2013 and seeking a seventh term in office.
https://www.cambridgeday.com/2025/07/01/cambridge-election-season-is-officially-underway-with-incumbents-first-taking-nomination-papers/