The mayor is running unopposed as of this week.
His announcement he is running for another term last week represented a giant anti-climax as if to say, what else was he expected to do?
Now, what happens?
Councilor Attorney Fred Capone is said to be set to make his announcement that he will challenge the mayor. This is said to be a guarantee by his closest supporters.
If Capone does run there is the expectation that his candidacy will be something unto itself.
In other words, Capone’s supporters believe that this is his moment to run, that he is in fact running, and that his campaign will be of his own design.
No two candidates for mayor of Everett could be more different from one another than Capone and the mayor.
The mayor needs no introduction in this editorial.
After serving many years as a councilor he is apparently set to make the jump into the proverbial political frying pan. Capone is not one for empty boasts or promises.
His supporters say he believes he can win, and this is why he is running.
Capone does.
In addition, they say he is seeking the mayoralty because he wants to return the position to someone whose public and private life and whose business life have all been exemplary.
Capone has made no embarrassing, illegal, unethical, or immoral public stumbles during a highly public life. He has a clean slate.
His supporters’ value him as an honest man who knows more than most about how to run a city like Everett.
Can Capone beat the mayor?
Right now, you’d be crazy to bet on such a scenario.
At this time when the mayor is running unopposed, another possible candidate is measuring whether or not she should run. Councilor Gerly Adrien, we believe, would like to run for mayor.
However, she is uncertain about whether or not to take on the mayor.
This shows caution and common sense.
The first Everett Black woman councilor taking on the mayor is something many people are hoping for.
Adrien would bring to the campaign the voice of the new Everett. Her candidacy would likely bring out a large minority vote in the city, which is now a minority/majority population demographic.
An Adrien candidacy with a Capone candidacy is believed to be a doubleheader of sorts – a two-front war against the mayor. Two front wars are tricky. Normal strategies get thrown out the window.
The primary comes to loom larger and can often be more important as to outcome than the election itself.
So, the mayor has announced for another term.
He will probably face Capone.
There is a chance he could face Capone and Adrien.
If this indeed is a time for change, that cannot be measured by polling, the mayor can’t win either way.
At the very least, his re-election is not a guarantee.
The mayor says he will be the mayor forever.
Nothing is guaranteed these days, not even the mayor’s pre-ordained re-election.