AMHERST — A mix of newcomers who say they will bring change, and incumbents pledging to continue to confront the challenges Amherst is facing, including funding for the schools, earned seats on the Town Council at Tuesday’s town election.
While the new 13-member council, which will be sworn in at the beginning of 2026, appears as if it will be on the same page in ensuring adequate money is available for education, there appear to be continued divides on the appropriate approaches to housing development and implementation of racial justice recommendations from the Community Safety and Social Justice Committee.
Only one incumbent seeking reelection, District 1 Councilor Ndifreke Ette, failed to get back on the council, trailing both newcomer Jillian Brevik and incumbent District 1 Councilor Cathy Schoen, with the other newcomers prevailing in contested races including Amber Cano-Martin in District 2, who will replace the departing District 2 Councilor Patricia DeAngelis, and At-Large Councilor Andrew Churchill, who will replace the retiring Andy Steinberg.
The only other newcomer is Samuel MacLeod, who won one of the two seats in the uncontested District 5.
All three incumbent School Committee members running for reelection, Bridget A. Hynes, Deborah Lee Leonard and Sarah A. Marshall, prevailed, with newcomers Andrew W. Hart and Laura Jane Hunter taking the other two seats, beating out the sixth candidate, Esther Azar.
At-Large Councilor Ellisha May Walker, who earned the most votes of any council candidate, said she intends to keep a resident-centered approach that will also make sure the town’s schools are well funded.
“I’m very optimistic for the future and what the next two years will look like,” Walker said, adding, “I feel like this is a meaningful moment.”
Also winning at-large seats were incumbents Mandi Jo Hanneke and Churchill, with Charlotte Allegra Rice Clark finishing out of the running in fourth place.
Churchill said he will address the need for building more housing as a way to deal with the town’s fiscal crisis and also to expand housing opportunities.
“I look forward to trying to be a bridge between the council and the school committee, since I served on the school committee before,” Churchill said.
The first unofficial results came in shortly after 8 p.m., when cheers erupted among those gathered at Formosa restaurant on Main Street as they learned Brevik would be a new town councilor. “Jill, Jill, Jill, Jill, Jill,” they chanted.
“You’re all such beautiful people,” Brevik said. “I’m blown away.”
Brevik and Schoen both surpassed the vote totals of Ette and Vincent J. O’Connor to win the seats.
“I’m so proud to represent so many great people,” Brevik said. “These are people who are going to make change in this town.”
“I’m very appreciative of all the voters in District 2 who voted for me,” Cano-Martin said, a short time after receiving numerous congratulatory hugs from those at Formosa. Cano-Martin said her priorities will be fully funding the schools and ensuring infrastructure like roads and sidewalks are taken care of.
Cano-Martin got more votes than Council President Lynn Griesemer, who won the other district seat, and Jason Michael Dorney, a member of the town’s Conservation Commission.
Cano-Martin said she spoke to many people who want their councilors to do more listening.
“They want a better quality of life,” Cano-Martin said. “We need more participation.”
Griesemer, who was celebrating at Garcia’s restaurant on East Pleasant Street, said she is pleased to continue the work that will include getting a new Department of Public Works and South Amherst fire station underway, achieving a balanced budget and figuring out how to proceed with racial justice recommendations. Roads are also a priority, along with how to provide both a senior center and housing for seniors.
In District 3, incumbents Heather Hala Lord and George E. Ryan, like they did two years ago, turned back a challenge from Patrick Drumm.
“It feels like there’s a lot more work to do,” Ryan said. “The biggest challenge will be the school budget and finding common ground.”
Through his door knocking, Ryan said people are generally very open to talk and he communicates with constituents regularly through an electronic newsletter.
In District 4, incumbents Pamela Susan Rooney and Jennifer Lynn Taub easily turned back a challenge from Dillon Maxfield, whose platform of building more housing and increasing density, as a strategy, is not supported by some of the residents in the neighborhoods close to the University of Massachusetts.
In District 5, with no challengers, incumbent Ana Mary Devlin Gauthier joined newcomer MacLeod and will return to the council.
School Committee
Jennifer Shiao, who will be stepping off the School Committee, praised Clark, who co-chairs the Community Safety and Social Justice Committee, for running for an at-large council seat.
“I’m so grateful for the conversations she’s forced the Town Council to have,” Shiao said.
Shiao also applauded Azar. “We’re very thankful for Esther Azar for stepping up and running.”
Those elected to School Committee talked briefly about their goals.
“I’m thrilled to do it and work with anybody and everybody to get things done,” Hart said.
Hunter was running for a second time.
“I think this is a demonstration of what the community can do and I’m so happy to work with these incredible people to make our town better,” Hunter said.
“I’m very happy to be successfully elected to a second term,” Marshall said. “I look forward to advancing the projects that we’ve been working on.”
“I’m looking forward to working with the new school committee,” Leonard said. “I think we will have a good two years and will begin working on that.”
“I’m so excited to continue the work we’ve started and being willing to listen to families and work from my heart and for the children,” Hynes said.
With Steinberg and DeAngelis not seeking reelection, the last councilors who were on the inaugural council in 2018 are Griesemer, Hanneke, Schoen and Ryan.
Amherst Forward, the political action committee, saw five of its six endorsed Town Council candidates prevail, Griesemer, Ryan, Lord, Churchill and Hanneke, with only Ette losing, and applauded those who won and ran.
“Amherst’s challenges going into 2026 are connected — we need to strengthen our schools, fix our roads, expand housing options, and protect homeowners from unsustainable taxes,” the group said. “Our town’s ability to solve these challenges hinges on the ability of our newly elected local leaders to listen, find common ground and work together in a spirit of collaboration.”
The Progressive Coalition had four of its endorsed candidates win, Brevik, Cano-Martin, Lord and Walker, but O’Connor and Clark lost.
In a statement, that group said Tuesday’s results were a big win.
“With their leadership, we can expect progress in promoting equity, social justice, fiscal responsibility, accountability and transparency within town government, enhancing our public schools, and nurturing an inclusive community where every resident’s voice is valued.”
That idea of collaboration, as referenced by Amherst Forward, was also mentioned by Churchill, who said he hopes that he can be a problem solver who can bring different corners together.
Ryan observed that the dynamics of the council will be different come the new year. “It looks like it will be a very different council,” Ryan said.
With the results known, Griesemer said it played out how she thought it would.
“To me, there were no surprises,” Griesemer said, though she pointed out that the racial diversity of the next council will be diminished.
“I’m sorry to see Freke go.”
All six incumbent Jones Library trustees earned reelection without opposition and there also were no contests for the Amherst Housing Authority and elector under the Oliver Smith Will.
Voters weigh in
Scott Hertel, accompanied by his children Anna, 10, and Benjamin, 8, to the polls at the high school, said he was motivated to vote because Amherst needs more revenue.
“I do feel like our town has some problems that need solving, and I feel like we need good people who can solve problems,” Hertel said.
“We need money for the schools to function,” Hertel said. “We need a town that works.”
Janet Winston, a resident since 1970, said she studied the candidates and went with those she feels will be most qualified to address issues facing the town, which has become much more developed over that time.
“I wanted to vote for the things I would like improved in town, and I like to come in person,” Winston said.