Your Local News & Sports in 6 Languages! Scan Here! Vol. 33, No.45 -FREEwww.advocatenews.net Free Every Friday Local Politics - A Family Affair 781-286-8500 Friday, November 10, 2023 18th Annual Veterans Day Program – Sunday, Nov. 12 T he Revere Veterans Committee in cooperation with ActDYNAMIC DUO: State Representative Jessica Giannino is shown with her dad, soon-to-be Ward 6 Councillor-Elect Chris Giannino outside the polls on Tuesday. Revere will be in great hands from the State House to City Hall come January 2024. Congratulations Councillor Giannino. Low voter turnout elects Keefe mayor in tight race New council and school board members gain seats By Barbara Taormina A cting mayor Patrick Keefe is now Mayor-elect Patrick Keefe after coming out on top in a tight race with CouncillorAt-Large and former mayor Dan Rizzo in Tuesday's election. According to results posted by the Elections commission, 9,653 people or 31.27 percent of registered voters turned out at the polls. Keefe ended the night with 4,929 votes or just over 51 percent of the total while Rizzo captured 4,561 votes or just over 47 percent. The new high school was a key issue in the contentious campaign with Keefe favoring a new high school at Wonderland and Rizzo supporting the plan to build on the existing site. Keefe did well throughout the wards and in particular Ward 4 which he represented for years as a city councillor and Ward 3, the location of Revere High. Rizzo had pockets of strong support in wards 5 and 6. "I'm so proud of you, Revere," said Keefe during a brief appearance on Revere TV Tuesday night. While voters opted to stay the course in the mayoral race there will be signifi cant changes on the city council. Incumbents Marc Silvestri and Anthoing Mayor Patrick Keefe will conduct their 18th annual Veterans Day program on Sunday, November 12, 2023, at the Beachmont VFW 6712 (150 Bennington St. in Revere) at 5:00 p.m. on behalf of the Veterans of Revere. Invited guests are retired military personnel from the Veterans Home at Chelsea. A Chinese food buff et will be served at a cost of $20.00 per person. Dancing will follow the event and dinner to the music of DJ Alan LaBella. Anyone wishing to purchase a complete table of 10 in advance may call 781-244-7430. Individual tickets are being sold at the Revere Veterans Office at 249 Rear Broadway, Revere and by Al Terminiello, Jr. and Ira Novoselsky. Payments must be made by Monday, November 7, 2023. Election 2023: What the Candidates Raised and Spent By Barbara Taormina C andidates have called the 2023 campaign consequential, competitive and combative, but one thing it was not is cheap. Mayoral candidates Acting IT’S OFFICIAL: Mayor-Elect Patrick Keefe, Jr. his wife, Jennifer, and his proud mom, Lucia Keefe, are shown celebrating the newly-elected mayor’s election on Tuesday evening. (Advocate photo by Tara Vocino) ny Zambuto came out in front in the At-Large race and Ward 1 incumbent and City Council President Pro Tempore Joanne McKenna and incumbent Ward 2 Councillor Ira Novoselsky all won their races. "I'm thrilled, I worked hard for this…I was very surprised and pleased with the numbers," said McKenna during about election night interview with Revere TV. McKenna captured 63 percent of the ward's 1,500 votes. Opponent John Stamatopoulous ended the night with 402 votes or nearly 27 percent. The Ward 2 race between incumbent Ira Novoselsky and challenger Danielle Osterman was much closer but Ward 2 gave Novoselsky more than 48 percent of their vote. Osterman fi nished with 42.5 percent of the ward's vote or 47 votes behind Novoselsky. Revere elected three new AtLarge councillors, Robert Haas, Jr., Juan Pablo Jaramillo and Michelle Kelly. VOTERS | SEE Page 23 Mayor Patrick Keefe and Councillor-At-Large Dan Rizzo together raised $422,750 in campaign contributions; add in the $80,186 raised by CouncillorAt-Large Gerry Visconti and the nearly $15,000 in campaign contributions to Councillor-At-Large Steven Morabito, who both ran in the Preliminary Election, and Revere’s mayoral race cost nearly enough to pay for the new high school. According to reports filed with the state’s Offi ce of Campaign Finance, Keefe took in $195,474 in contributions, while Rizzo reported receiving $227,276. During the campaign, Keefe and Rizzo frequently remarked about who was donating to their opponent. Keefe’s long list of donors included dozens of city employees and a notable number of large donations from developers, construction companies and real estate professionals. Rizzo’s supporters were generally Revere residents who contributed an average of $50. Keefe reported $176,612 in campaign spending while the Rizzo campaign spent $180,186 wooing voters. While those fi gures are significant, they are dwarfed by the $417,476 former Mayor Brian Arrigo spent in 2019 which the Offi ce of Campaign Finance reports equaled more than $57 for each vote. Back in 1991, reporter Melissa Lee published an article in The Harvard Crimson that began with the premise that 20 grand was the minimum amount needed to make a serious run for a seat on a city council. Although not all Revere City Council candidates have filed their campaign fi nance reports, the majority of those who have reported their numbers are below that threshold. In the most recent campaign fi nance reports for the At-Large race, Michelle Kelly reported the highest number of receipts with $30,025 in campaign contributions. Juan Pablo Jaramillo received $26,217. Incumbent Marc Silvestri reported $16,474 in receipts, and fellow incumELECTION | SEE Page 21
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