Gomes Withdrawing Name from New Bedford Mayoral Final Election

NEW BEDFORD — City Councilor At-Large Brian Gomes is withdrawing from the mayor’s race in New Bedford.

Gomes announced on the Chris McCarthy Show Wednesday morning that he would be dropping out of the mayor’s race and run exclusively for Councilor At-Large.

“I am announcing that I will be withdrawing from the mayor’s race,” Gomes announced.

“I am announcing this morning that I am not a candidate for mayor, I am a candidate for Councilor At-Large. I love doing the job that I’ve done and I’ve loved the opportunity the people have given me to be part of City politics. I know I’ve been an integral part of many things that have happened in this city over the years.”

Gomes had been on the ballot for both the mayor’s race and for re-election to his current Council seat after mistakenly talking right past the deadline to withdraw from Mayor’s race. Gomes had originally taken nomination papers out for both races, as other candidates did, and gathered enough certified signatures to qualify for both races.

The longtime City Councilor continued to back away from taking full responsibility for the mishap, calling it a “situation that was put in front of me.”

“Being on the ballot as a soldier of the people of the City I just had to do what I had to do and not walk away from a situation, but deal with a situation that was put in front of me. We are all on a voyage, there’s a reason why things happen,” Gomes said.

“This was not a stunt by Brian Gomes. I’m not into pulling stunts on the people or anything of the sort. I was there and I wanted to sign the appropriate paperwork. I was never told that any paperwork had to be notarized. Anything that I’ve ever done in City Hall, an Election Commissioner, whether it was Maria Tomasia or the current Manny DeBritto, we always just signed cards and papers. I was under the assumption that you walk in, you sign the paper and you’re all done.”

The announcement comes less than a day after the preliminary election, where incumbent Mayor Jon Mitchell Mitchell dominated, finishing with 3,150 votes for 56.99 percent of the final tally. Gomes took home 20.23 percent on 1,118 votes.

The decision to run for both offices affected Gomes in the preliminary round of the Councilor At-Large race as well.  Gomes, who traditionally finishes as one of the top vote-getters in that particular race, gathered the lowest amount of votes among the other four incumbent At-Large Councilors, totaling 2,484 votes for 12.47 percent.

With Gomes out of the mayor’s race, third-place candidate Richard Tyson Moultrie will now replace him as Mayor Jon Mitchell’s opponent in the final election in November.

The final election is scheduled for November 5.