It was a good night for challengers in the Watertown School Committee and the Library Trustees races.
In the School Committee race, the two challengers topped the list in Tuesday’s Watertown Election. Kendra Foley had the biggest share of the vote with nearly 26 percent, followed by Candace Miller who had almost 23 percent. The third spot went to 20-year-School Committee veteran Eileen Hsu-Balzer, who got 18.66 percent.
Foley said she believes her hard work during the campaign paid off.
“The key was getting out and meeting lots of people and talking to them about the their issues and the great things happening in the schools,” Foley said.
Not one single issue resonated with everyone, Foley said, but she said people talked to her about communication issues, they wanted a strong curriculum from K-12, parent engagement and community engagement.
Two incumbents lost after serving one term. Julie McMahon got 16.85 percent of the vote and Michael Shepard received 15.72 percent of the votes.
See the full results below (winner in bold, I = incumbent):
School Committee
Kendra Foley – 2,537
Candace Miller – 2,251
Eileen Hsu-Balzer – 1,839
Julie McMahon – 1,661
Michael Shepherd – 1,549
Library Trustees
Challenger Penelope Peoples led the way with 27 percent of the vote in a very close Library Trustee race.
Incumbent Tim Tracy received the second most votes. He got 25 percent of the vote, while challenger Sheppard Ferguson got 24 percent and got the third and final seat on the board. Incumbent Michael Hanlon finished with 22 percent.
Here are the results:
Penelope Peoples – 2,273
Timothy Tracy – 2,095
Sheppard Ferguson – 2,043
Michael Hanlon – 1,863