See Which Worcester Council Candidates Ended May With Most Cash

WORCESTER, MA — One month after Worcester's 2021 election filing deadline, campaign season is fully in swing with City Council candidates raising cash before primaries and Election Day this fall.

Incumbent candidates ended May with the most money in the bank. Mayor Joseph Petty took no donations last month, but had more than $30,000 at his disposal. District 3 Councilor George Russell and District 4 Councilor Sarai Rivera ended May with $47,800 and $26,000, respectively — although both are running unopposed this year.

District 1 Councilor Sean Rose is facing a challenge from Worcester police union leader Richard Cipro. But Rose ended the month with more than $10,000 to Cipro's $750 — and $500 of that came in a donation from Cipro himself.

District 2 Councilor Candy Mero-Carlson had the biggest haul in May, taking in nearly $20,000 in donations. She ended the month with more than $65,000 on hand — the biggest war chest of any Council candidate — dwarfing challenger Johanna Hampton-Dance's $1,600.

Mero-Carlson took donations from some big local names, including Mercantile Center CEO Charles Norton ($500), Wood Partners developer James Wood ($500), former Democratic City Committee chairman Michael Lanava ($250) and Crompton Collective owner Leonard Lorusso ($250).

On the non-incumbent side, District 5 candidate Etel Haxhiaj ended May with more than $17,000 in the bank, the highest of any challenger. Haxhiaj and At-Large candidate Guillermo Creamer were the only two non-incumbents to raise more than $1,000 in May, according to state records.

Here's where donations stood at the end of May, according to the state Office of Campaign and Political Finance (OCPF):

City Council At-Large

(i) Joseph Petty

• Donations: $0
• Expenses: $66.93
• May total: $30,207.16

(i) Donna Colorio

• Donations; $800
• Expenses: $277.45
• May total: $13,922.19

(i) Matthew Wally

• Donations: $2,568.60
• Expenses: $678.50
• May total: $10,889.72

Guillermo Creamer

• Donations: $1,570.52
• Expenses: $1,215.62
• May total: $9,061.87

(i) Khrystian King

• Donations: $631.64
• Expenses: $0
• May total: $6,559.26

Deborah Hall

• Donations: $0
• Expenses: $0
• May total: $6,082.05

(i) Morris Bergman

• Donations: $0
• Expenses: $339.70
• May total: $4,681.11

(i) Kate Toomey

• Donations: $464.55
• Expenses: $460.97
• May total: $1,956.31

Thu Nguyen

• No filing as of June 2, but had close to $20,000 at April's end

City Council District 1

(i) Sean Rose

• Donations: $3,267.03
• Expenses: $601.45
• May total: $10,273.53

Richard Cipro

• Donations: $750.00
• Expenses: $0
• May total: $750

David Shea Jr.

• No filing as of June 2

City Council District 2

(i) Candy Mero Carlson

• Donations: $19,613.09
• Expenses: $1,602.83
• May total: $65,187.35

Johanna Hampton-Dance

• Donations: $642.61
• Expenses: $1,093.48
• May total: $1,603.03

City Council District 3

(i) George Russell

• Donations: $850
• Expenses: $0
• May total: $47,805.11

City Council District 4

(i) Sarai Rivera

• Donations: $750
• Expenses: $0
• May total: $26,012.52

City Council District 5

Etel Haxhiaj

• Donations: $2,037.86
• Expenses: $786.73
• May total: $17,451.71

Gregory Stratman

• Donations: $625.00
• Expenses: $605.35
• May Total: $2,114.65

Yenni Desroches

• Donations: $65.40
• Expenses: $307.09
• May total: $743.23

Stephen Quist

• Donations: $0
• Expenses: $20.32
• May total: $4.68

Search for Worcester campaign finance filings on the OCPF website.