Incumbent Mayor Greg Verga, incumbent City Councilor at-Large Jeff Worthley and former City Council President Paul Lundberg squared off in a Preliminary Election for mayor Tuesday night in which Lundberg topped the ticket, Verga came in second, and Worthley trailed the other two.
Lundberg and Verga now move on to the Nov. 4 Municipal Election’s race for mayor.
The three candidates, all Gloucester natives, faced off in the Preliminary Election in which turnout was light. Results in the form of memory sticks and paper tapes were brought into the first-floor conference room in City Hall for City Clerk Grace Poirier after 8:15 p.m. and results were updated live at elections.gloucester-ma.gov.
As the results from the precincts were updated online, Lundberg jumped out to a sizable early lead over Verga, followed by Worthley.
Here are the unofficial results posted Tuesday night:
— Lundberg: 2,384
— Verga: 1,605
— Worthley: 1,124
“Tonight’s results make clear: Gloucester is ready for positive change,” Lundberg said as the results came in and he jumped out to a large lead. “I am deeply humbled by the support we’ve received across our city. This campaign has always been about listening, learning and leading — and tonight shows that our message is resonating with our citizens. To our incredible volunteers and my family who stood by me every step of the way — thank you. We are only halfway there, and we will carry this momentum forward to November to win for Gloucester’s future.”
Turnout was just under 22%.
Worthley garnered just under 22% of the vote, Lundberg, just under 46%, and Verga a little more than 31%.
“Preliminaries are difficult to predict,” Verga said . “We expect turnout to be much higher in the general election. I am eager to continue to work hard for Gloucester from the mayor’s office and will continue to make the case on the campaign trail for the next six weeks until the general election.”
Worthley, 48, works as a financial services representative and is the father of two Gloucester High students. He graduated from Gloucester High in 1995 before going on to college. He has served for nearly eight years on the City Council, both at-Large and as a Ward 3 councilor over the years. With a focus on constituent services and proposing council orders, he is serving his second consecutive term as an at-large councilor and he will be stepping off the council when his term ends at the end of this year.
“Congratulations to Paul Lundberg and Greg Verga,” Worthley said. “I started this campaign committed to remaining positive and only focused on issues that matter to Gloucester residents and I’m very proud that we accomplished that goal and I’m very grateful to all of my volunteers who worked tirelessly in support of our positive message. I will continue to serve our constituents and volunteer in our city in whatever ways I can.”
A native of Annisquam, Lundberg, 74, is a transportation professional and a former member of the Planning Board who served three terms on the City Council from 2014 and 2020. He’s a former trustee for Beverly and Addison Gilbert hospitals who has served on the boards of the Sawyer Free Library and Wellspring House. He and his wife, Christine, have an adult daughter, Ann Barker.
Verga, 57, worked as a real estate professional before being elected mayor at the end of 2021 in a race against former Mayor Sefatia Romeo Theken. His wife, Kellie, works as a labor and delivery charge nurse at Beverly Hospital and they have three grown children, Abbie Ragusa, Patrick and Julia.
Verga previously served for eight years on the School Committee and six years on the City Council. A number of capital projects, some of which began during the previous administration, where accomplished on his watch, including the completion of the East Veterans Elementary School, renovations to Stage Fort Park including the paving of Hough Avenue, the move of the Vietnam Memorial from Gloucester High to Stacy Boulevard and Stage Fort Park, the renovation of the Gloucester Police Department and Gloucester District Court complex on Main Street and the renovation of the Green Street Playground with a new softball field with lights.
His administration put in place an online beach parking reservation system which cut down on out-of-town tourist traffic and is moving forward with long-delayed upgrades to the wastewater treatment plant on Essex Avenue.
Turnout
Turnout was light in the wards on the island.
At 6:04 p.m. at the Ward 1 polls at East Veterans Elementary School on Webster Street 580 had been cast at Precinct 1, and 370 were cast at Precinct 2.
At 4:29 p.m. at the Ward 2 polls at Our Lady of Good Voyage Youth Center on Prospect Street, Precinct 1 had 253 voters and Precinct 2 had 244 voters.
At 5:24 p.m., the Ward 3 polls at the Gloucester High field house on Leslie O. Johnson Road, had 258 votes cast in Precinct 1 and 376 votes cast at Precinct 2.
At 5:18 p.m., Ward 4 Precinct 1 had seen 460 voters turn out to the polls at Beeman Memorial Elementary School on Cherry Street.
At 4:44 p.m., 621 voters had trickled into the Ward 4 Precinct 2 polls at Plum Cove Elementary School on Hickory Street.
Erin Ryan came to vote with her daughter, Areanna Ryan, 25, who works as a medical assistant. Erin Ryan said she was emotional voting with her adult daughter for the first time for mayor, though they have voted together in past presidential elections.
“It’s just nice, one day you are taking them to kindergarten and the next thing you are voting together,” Erin Ryan said. She said it’s important to pay attention to local elections and to stay informed about things like budgets and where the money is going. “It’s super important to know what’s going on in your community.”
A negative turn
In a sign that negative campaigning has made its way to a mayor’s race on the eve of the Preliminary Election, signs stating “Mayor’s Race ’25 Don’t Let Your Vote Be Worthless” cropped up in various places around the city.
The signs appear to be a not so subtle play on the name of mayoral candidate Worthley.
“I’m focused on my positive message for a better future for Gloucester residents,” Worthley said in an email late Monday afternoon. “There are more than 600 signs out in residents’ yards in support of our campaign and 100 more requests our volunteers are still hoping to get to. I don’t know who’s behind that effort and it’s not slowing me down one bit.”
Verga said Monday afternoon he had been made aware of the signs, as some were spotted near his own.
“We didn’t initiate this,” he said. “It’s not something I would have done.”
He said what has been reserved for Washington politics has trickled down to little cities and towns all over the country.
Lundberg, who was out knocking on doors late Monday, also said his campaign had nothing to do with the negative lawn signs.
“Absolutely not. As I said to you and the other candidates, whatever you have done in the past is between you and the voters,” the former City Council president said. “We had nothing to do with it.”
Lundberg said this was the first time he has seen negative signs like this.
“I discourage it, I don’t encourage it,” he said of negative campaigning.
Standouts
There were dueling standouts at Grant Circle around 5:15 p.m. with folks from the Lundberg campaign standing out on the northbound, Washington Street/Salt Water Grille side of the circle, while a smaller group of Verga supporters were seen in the vicinity of Washington and Poplar streets.
Lundberg was alone holding a sign at the entrance to the Plum Cove School around 4:40 p.m. Just prior to a reporter showing up, Lundberg said for a couple of hours, his wife Christine and he, and Verga and his wife Kellie had stood across from one another across the driveway in what Lundberg said “was a cordial education competition” with voters.